


it's been awhile (since i've felt butterflies)

by sweetenough



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Dom/sub Undertones, Flirting, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Ice Cream Parlors, M/M, Public Blow Jobs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-07
Updated: 2014-07-07
Packaged: 2018-02-07 12:25:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1898946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetenough/pseuds/sweetenough
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Louis works in an ice cream parlor and Harry is Gemma's cute little brother who starts working there, as well.</p>
            </blockquote>





	it's been awhile (since i've felt butterflies)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).
  * Translation into Polski available: [It's been awhile (since i've felt butterflies)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2473379) by [isaidmeow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/isaidmeow/pseuds/isaidmeow)



> First of all, a MASSIVE THANK YOU to the most wonderful betas ever, [leah](http://supernope.tumblr.com/) and [raina](http://peterpansflight.tumblr.com/) !!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> \---
> 
> This is for milkballoon ♥ I really hope you like it!!  
> [title is from 'kiss me again' by we are the in crowd]

Louis likes his job. Well, not because he particularly enjoys selling ice cream to people everyday, but the truth is that he’s getting paid for basically spending eighty percent of his shifts playing on his phone.

There’s also the fact that his co-workers are pretty cool, and around his age. It was the owner’s idea actually, he decided he only wanted to hire young students without experience which… is not a thing Louis actually understands but whatever.

He gets on really well with Gemma, they’re both the same age and they have the same sense of humor. Louis enjoys annoying her about the - in Gemma’s words - ‘small, tiny, little, nonexistent’ crush she has on Niall Horan, another guy that works at Tasty Treats as well.

Niall is an easygoing guy that practically spends more time stealing spoonfuls of ice cream rather than serving it. He flirts a lot with the customers, and he’s carefree in every sense of the word. Sometimes, he throws small parties at his house, only inviting people that work at the parlor, and they spend hours singing songs in his backyard while he plays his guitar and Zayn falls asleep with his head on Niall’s shoulder.

Louis thought Zayn had been kind of shy at first, but after a few weeks of them working at their shifts together, he showed Louis his ‘dorky side’, and he told him a few things about himself. He has a cat named Tiger, he goes to art school and he’s always wanted to have enough money to buy a house for his mum. (According to Niall, some of his paintings are currently being sold for quite a large amount of money, so Louis thinks he’ll make it someday). Zayn’s a softie really.

“ _Louis_ ,” a voice hisses, “Stop playing fruit ninja and take care of that customer.”

He groans as he slides his phone into his back pocket, “First of all, I wasn’t playing _fruit ninja_ , Liam, that game is quite old by now, ” he tells him as he walks towards the cash register. “Second, you’re not my boss.”

Honestly. He and Liam are equals in this job, and just because he is apparently _responsible_ , it doesn’t mean he has the right to boss everyone around.

Louis would do a better job at that, he thinks.

“Hi.”

He looks up and _right_. Customer. All work and no play.

“Hello and welcome to Tasty Treats,” he says, faking enthusiasm. There’s a boy in front of him, he looks younger, and Louis notices he has nice hair, green eyes and plump lips. He’s ridiculously pretty. “What can I do for you today, Curly?”

The boy lets out a small laugh and _okay_ , those are definitely dimples, “My name’s Harry.”

“Well, Harry,” Louis says, grinning and winking shortly after. He is usually smoother than this, but this boy hasn’t said more than five words and Louis is already charmed. “What do you need?”

Harry bites his bottom lip, his dimples still showing. He’s trying to hide a smile and failing spectacularly.

“I’m actually looking for Gemma, my sister,” he says and Louis freezes.

“You’re her brother?” he asks, dumbfounded. “Her baby brother?”

Harry rolls his eyes, “So that’s what she calls me when she talks about me, huh?”

“Nah, sometimes I call you a little shit,” Gemma says, startling Louis a little.

He watches the two of them carefully and can’t help but feel dumb for not noticing their similarity.

“So, Louis,” she says as she puts an arm around Harry’s shoulders, “My brother decided he’s old enough for his first job, so I thought, ‘Why not here?’”

Louis nods, “Cool, you asked our boss about this already?” he asks her.

“Yes,” Gemma responds with a sweet smile. Too sweet actually, which means she’s probably up to something. “And you are going to train him. You’ll teach him everything he needs to know about this job and you’ll help him whenever he needs it, okay?”

Louis stares at her wide-eyed and confused. “I’m - What do you - Why?”

It’s kind of ridiculous really. He doesn’t even _know_ this boy, why is he the one getting stuck with him?

”Don’t worry, you’ll receive extra pay,” she says looking smug, and Louis knows that there’s no way out for him.

 

***

 

The following day, Harry enters the place with a smile and wearing a white knit sweater and dark jeans.

“So.” Louis says by way of greeting, “What would make you feel more comfortable? Serving ice cream, or taking the orders?”

Harry thinks for a moment. “Serving, I guess.”

Louis hasn’t been working in Tasty Treats for that long, but he didn’t think it was possible to find someone that wasn’t capable of serving ice cream, and Harry is clearly the exception to the rule. He’s very clumsy and he accidentally drops the ice cream right before giving it to the customer _twice_. Louis didn’t really think filling a plastic tub with a scoop of it was a hard thing to do, but Harry somehow ends up with chocolate stains all over his face. Which… would probably be gross in any other circumstance, but he gets away with it, just by grinning at the clients.

Louis literally chokes on air when he sees Zayn standing in front of Harry with a tissue to clean his face. Harry doesn’t seem to mind, and he stands still, with his hands behind his back as Zayn wipes the chocolate off meticulously. They look kind of cute together.

“You’re staring,” someone tells him.

“Fuck off, Niall.”

He laughs, “If it were anybody else, I’d guess you’re staring at Zayn, but I’m pretty sure that’s not what’s happening here.”

“He’s Gemma’s little brother, _Niall_ ,” he says as he rolls his eyes, “He’s probably fourteen or something.”

“Hey Harry,” Niall says with a friendly smile, “How old are you?”

Harry hesitates for a few seconds as he chews on his index finger, making Louis wonder how his mouth would look wrapped around his dick.

Uh.

“I’m sixteen,” he responds with a happy smile that makes his dimples look awfully prominent. “And I love flowers and cats.”

Louis groans. “Let’s see how you deal with customers instead, yeah?”

Harry nods enthusiastically and it kind of reminds Louis of a Disney princess. How is it possible to find him hot and _adorable_ at the same time?

 

A week later, Harry has total control over the cash register, due to the fact that his charm started attracting more people (especially high school girls) to the parlor.

Louis isn’t jealous, just a little bit annoyed. This kid literally comes out of nowhere and five days later, he already has everyone working there wrapped around his finger.

Once Louis notices the place is finally empty, he decides it’s time for a well-deserved break. He rubs his sore wrists; it’s the first time in nearly two years that they’ve had so many people at Tasty Treats. He’s pretty sure his fingers have frozen and are literally about to fall off.

“What are you doing?” Harry asks tentatively.

“Taking a rest,” Louis says without even looking up.

Harry snorts, “Weren’t you making fun of me the other day because I couldn’t serve ice cream?”

Louis looks up at him, raising his eyebrows, “I am _exhausted_ ,” he says seriously. “It’s not like we all have it as easy as you, Curly, all you have to do is sit there and look pretty.”

Harry tilts his head to the side, looking at him curiously, “You think I’m pretty?”

Louis covers his face with both of his hands and groans. This kid is already too much.

“That wasn’t the point, and I wasn’t complimenting you,” Louis tells him.

Harry furrows his eyebrows and smiles, “So you just go around calling everyone pretty, then?”

“Ugh, god, I did not call you - ” Louis interrupts himself and points at Harry with his index finger, “Stop this, I won't fall into your game.”

“My game,” Harry repeats, amused.

His whole face should be illegal really. His bright eyes and his huge dimples are truly distracting Louis from their conversation.

“Yes,” he says, nodding, “You just walk around with your curls and your pink lips, making everyone like you.”

“Everyone?” Harry asks thoughtfully, “So that means you like me as well, then?”

Louis bangs his head against the wall.

 

***

 

Harry’s been working at Tasty Treats for a month when the boss gives him and Louis some news.

For some reason, the parlor works wonderfully when just the two of them are working there, so he decided that from now on, Louis will have to attend to his job only three days a week, and Harry is going to be his only company for two of them.

It’s a good thing because he’ll be earning the same amount of money, and at the same time, he gets two free days each week.

But then, there’s also a negative part since he’s going to have to spend so much time alone with Harry. Which. It’s not like he _hates_ him or something, but he sort of doesn’t want to like him because everyone does, and Louis honestly doesn’t want to be like the rest.

Which is _dumb_ because, when Harry isn’t around, Louis can pretend he finds him annoying and that he’s just a stupid little kid, but when he is actually having a conversation with him, Louis can tell that he’s a very nice person and that the two of them have a lot of things in common.

Truth is, he’s impossible to resist and that’s something Louis has known for a long time.

Sometimes, he even catches himself smiling at the silly things Harry does without even realizing he’s doing it.

For example there’s that time when Harry was sitting at the cash register and he had started making funny faces to a kid that was at the parlor. The customer in front of Louis had coughed on purpose because he hadn’t even started serving the ice cream he was supposed to give him.

Then another time when a customer spent almost fifteen minutes exchanging knock-knock jokes and vegan recipes with Harry. Louis had ended up telling them to hurry up because there were other customers at the parlor and - _yeah_ , maybe he was a little bit jealous as well.

The noise coming from the bell ringing when the door is opened makes him look up.

Standing in front of him is Harry, all wet from head to toe. He has a beanie over his head, black jeans and a plain white t-shirt that’s sticking to his body and Louis physically can’t look away from his nipples, darkly visible through his wet clothes.

“You’re wet,” he says eloquently.

Harry looks down as if examining his own body, then he meets Louis’ gaze and grins. “I am,” he says, sounding genuinely surprised.

“Well, you’re lucky it wasn’t raining when I got here ‘cause otherwise - _Woah_ ,” Louis stops talking when Harry starts taking his t-shirt off, without a warning, “What are you doing?”

“I’m wet,” Harry responds, “I’ll probably catch a cold if I don’t get this off.”

Louis’ heart starts racing, and he tries to look everywhere but at Harry’s prominent collarbones.

“So you’re planning to attend all customers naked or...?”

“Well it’s not like there are any customers right now, are there?” Harry jokes. “But yeah, you’re right, I don’t have dry clothes to put on.” He pauses and stares at Louis consideringly. “Would you mind lending me your sweater? I mean, you have a shirt underneath, right?”

A minute later, Louis already regrets saying yes since not only does the sweater look a bit small on Harry, accentuating his lovely figure, but Harry decides to get rid of his trousers as well.

“It’s pouring outside, I’m telling you, no one’s going to come here,” Harry says, as if Louis is actually capable of replying.

Harry’s boxers aren’t very long and it makes him look like he’s only wearing Louis’ clothes, which makes Louis feels somewhat pleased without knowing why.

Then, he realizes that if he doesn’t stop staring at Harry, he’s going to end up pushing him against the wall to snog his face off.

“We can watch a movie,” he suggests.

He gives himself a mental pat on the back for that. A movie would give Louis the chance of distracting himself from Harry and his stupid long legs.

Harry grins, “Sure.”

Half an hour later, Louis is asking himself just _why_ he thought watching a movie would be a great idea.

Everything had been fine at the beginning, when Louis had put the laptop on the table so they could watch the film there, from one of the biggest loveseats.

However, a few minutes after the film started, Harry had started moving, trying to find a comfortable position, and Louis told him to stay still. After that, Harry had simply draped his legs over Louis’ lap, curling up against the back of the loveseat.

In any other circumstance, this wouldn’t have meant trouble for Louis since he’s not a particularly selfish person and he really doesn’t care about ‘personal space’. But of course, most times, he doesn’t have to deal with a pair of smooth milky white legs that he can’t put his hands all over and much less, spend hours sucking bruises into (which is what’s going through his mind at the moment).

He sort of wants to tell Harry to just put them somewhere else, but that would be unkind of him, and besides, he already got used to the warmth coming from them on his lap.

Louis tries to pay attention to the movie to distract himself, but it doesn’t work. In fact, he doesn’t even remember which one they’re watching.

He decides to try to start some kind of conversation before he does something dumb like accidentally getting a boner.

What comes out of his mouth is, “Zayn is throwing a party on Friday.”

“I know,” Harry says, his gaze still focused on the screen.

Shit.

“So… you’ll be there as well,” he says.

“Yep.”

“You shouldn’t drink though, you should wait until you’re seventeen at least.” Louis jokes.

Harry turns to look at him with a smirk, “I _am_ seventeen.”

“What?”

“Yeah, my birthday was last week,” Harry tells him with a serious expression, “I don’t need you to take care of me.”

 

***

 

Louis decides to wear a simple black shirt along with a pair of jeans because, since Zayn doesn’t usually throw big fancy parties, there’s no need for expensive clothes.

When he enters his house, he quickly recognizes Liam, who’s dancing with a girl named Chelsea, who only goes to Tasty Treats when Liam is there.

Louis walks through the mass of dancing bodies on the improvised dance floor in the living-room, until he spots Zayn sitting next to Niall and Gemma, the three of them talking between laughs. Louis gets closer to them and he catches snippets of their conversation. He rolls his eyes because Niall is telling The Story of that time his cousin had laughed so hard, he had snorted beer out of his nose. Typical Niall really.

He’s about to join them but he feels someone giving him a tap on his shoulder. When he turns around, he’s faced with a drunk Harry Styles. His eyes look shinier than usual, and his cheeks are a bit flushed.

“Hiiiii.”

Louis can’t help but smile back, “Hello Harold.”

Harry giggles and leans his face towards Louis’ until their noses are almost touching.

“That’s not my name,” he tells him, his eyes wide and earnest, “I’m Harry.”

“I know,” Louis assures him.

Harry beams, “Good.” They stare at each other for a few seconds, until he starts talking again. “Do you want to dance?”

Louis turns to look at his friends and then says, “Nah, thank you. Maybe later though.”

Harry shrugs, “Suit yourself.”

Louis starts walking towards them, and he can tell Zayn sees him because he gives him an easy smile. “Hey bro.”

“Louis!” Niall says, enthusiastic, trying to hold back his laughter, “Do you remember - fuck,” he lets out a loud cackle. “Remember that time an old lady took like half an hour trying to decide on an ice cream flavour and after she _finally_ picked chocolate, she asked me what it was made of?”

Louis starts laughing as well when he remembers what Niall is talking about. “Yeah, and then you fucking told her it was made of shit.”

Gemma covers her mouth with her hand, trying to hide her laughter, “No way!”

Niall nods, wiping away a few tears from his eyes, “Yes, it almost got me fired, but it was so worth it.”

“And what did she say?” Zayn asks, amused.

“She stared at me like,” Niall says, mimicking a half surprised and half disgusted face that makes everyone laugh again, “ _‘I will never come here again‘_ ,” he says imitating the old lady’s voice. “It was classic, I can’t believe most of you missed it.”

They don’t talk again for a few moments, just sitting there drinking beer and listening to the music.

“How are your shifts with Harry going by the way, Louis?” Zayn asks him.

“A bit boring actually,” he responds with a shrug, “Customers love Harry so much, sometimes it seems I could give them two scoops of… I don’t know, water, and they’d take it without even realizing because they’re too busy staring at his pretty dimples.”

Gemma raises from the couch and starts tugging on Louis’ arm, as if telling him to go with her somewhere.

“Come _on_ , I want to tell you something.”

He follows her lead after giving the others a short wave.

The kitchen is empty when they get there. Gemma just stares at him with a funny look.

“Okay,” she says leaning against the counter, “Guess what.”

“What?”

She rolls her eyes. “My brother has like the hugest crush on you.”

Louis swallows, feigning nonchalance, “Really.”

“Really,” Gemma confirms, nodding as she giggles, “He didn’t actually tell me but it’s pretty obvious.”

Louis looks at her curiously, “Oh, is it? I had never noticed.”

“That’s because you’re a dumbass,” she says matter-of-factly. “Seriously though, he won’t shut up about you. I wonder if Harry _himself_ has noticed how much he talks about you.”

“Only good things I hope.”

“Ugh,” Gemma says, massaging her temple, “You have no idea. _‘Did you know Louis has four sisters?’, ‘Louis was going to try out for the X-Factor last year like me, Gemma!’_ ,” she says mimicking Harry’s voice.

“Stop,” Louis says, unable to hide the smile forming on his face.

“I’m being serious,” she insists, “Now I have to turn my phone off whenever he has a shift with you because he will start sending me these texts talking about everything you do or say. It’s a bit stressing really.”

Louis makes a mental note to increase the amount of jokes in his shifts with Harry.

“To be honest, I don’t get why you’re telling me this,” he says, hoping to put an end to the conversation.

Gemma rolls her eyes, “For no particular reason, you  _twat_ , but he’s my brother and I wanted to make sure you’ll be nice to him, okay?”

Louis nods shortly, “Cross my heart and hope to die.”

She laughs and pushes him lightly, “I mean it though, if he ever calls me crying because you hurt him, I will not hesitate to punch you in the face.”

“Alright, alright, ” he says seriously, “Better save it for his future girlfriends.”

Gemma just snorts as she walks through the door to go back to the party.

She gets back to where she was sitting before, right next to Niall, but Louis tries to make room for himself amidst the sea of writhing bodies. He dances with everyone, and nobody at all, simply enjoying the music and dancing accordingly.

Suddenly, he hears a voice that makes him freeze, his good mood evaporating quickly.

Frank. A guy that has a lot of friends in common with Zayn because Frank’s girlfriend goes to the same university as him; Louis knows him because they were in most of the same courses during sixth form.

They used to be kind of indifferent towards each other at school, but that changed drastically when he found Louis making out with another boy in the locker room after a football match and Frank started bullying Louis.

He always tells Zayn he shouldn’t invite him to his parties, but Zayn always says he never does but Frank just comes anyway. Then, he usually tells Louis that the guy isn’t worth starting some kind of fight because he’s better than that.

Louis sighs as he starts walking to the kitchen again, but he stops dead in his tracks when he hears a different voice, also familiar. When he turns around, he sees Frank standing with two big guys of his same age next to him, all of them laughing with Harry.

“Seventeen you say?” Frank asks, sounding amused.

Harry nods, “Yep. My birthday was two weeks ago.”

“Aww,” Frank coos, “Did you hear that Michael, two weeks.”

“He’s a baby,” one of his friends - Michael - says before letting out a laugh. “Come on dude, give him more beer.”

Frank grabs a full glass from the table next to him and offers it to Harry, but he bites his bottom lip, seeming uncomfortable.

“No, thank you.”

Frank snorts and gulps down the content of the glass. “You’re just so polite aren’t you.”

Harry nods, smiling. “Yes, mum always says teachers used to love me because of that.”

Frank and his friends start laughing loudly, their eyes quickly filling with tears.

“This kid is great, I could stay here all night,” Michael says.

Frank nods and takes a step closer to Harry to pinch both of his cheeks, “Did you hear that, Harry? You’re just so lovable.”

And that’s _it_ for Louis. He walks to them, determined, and when he’s close enough, he shoves Franks’ hands off of Harry.

“Don’t fucking touch him.” Louis says, defiant, standing between both of them, and giving Frank a death glare.

“Louis!” Harry exclaims gleefully.

“Well, well, well.” Frank says as he looks at Louis up and down, sizing him up, “Look who’s here.”

Louis rolls his eyes. It’s like this guy just wants to get punched.

“Is this your boyfriend, Tomlinson?” Both of Frank’s friends start laughing like hyenas. “Isn’t he a little young for you?”

Louis considers this, and then he just smiles, giving him a wink, “Why, sweetheart, are you jealous?”

“Fuck off,” Frank spits.

Louis mimics a disappointed expression. “You aren’t interested then? Shame,” he says as he grabs Harry’s hand, “Now if you'll excuse, me and my boyfriend have _gay things_ to do.”

He starts running then, taking Harry with him to climb the stairs at full speed. They come to a stop once they get to the second floor, leaning against Zayn’s bedroom door to catch their breath. Louis waits for a few seconds and then he turns around to check Harry’s expression. He’s looking at Louis with a small smile.

“What’s so funny, Curly?” he asks, quirking an eyebrow.

“You told them I was your boyfriend,” Harry responds.

Louis sighs.

The thing with Harry is that he is nice to every person he meets, and always believes the best of everyone. He tries not to argue with other people and to get along with everyone, if possible. In other words, Harry is a wonderful person, and Louis admires him, but at the same time he’s a bit naive sometimes and that’s the reason Louis interfered when he saw him with Frank. He knows Harry and he knows Frank, and also knows it’s not his duty to protect Harry, but he simply couldn’t help it.

Louis usually teases Harry a lot, but it’s not the same coming from other people because he _knows_ he’s kidding, but Franks was being plain mean.

“I’m sleepy,” Harry says, pulling him out of his thoughts.

He’s leaning his back against the door with closed eyes, seconds away of falling asleep right where he is.

“Okay mate, let’s go to sleep, yeah?” he says, putting his hand on Harry’s shoulder so he doesn’t fall as he opens the door of Zayn’s room carefully. “Come on, love, you’ll be sleeping on a bed in two minutes.”

Harry opens his eyes and starts giggling. “Love,” he mutters under his breath.

Louis wraps his arm around Harry’s waist so he won’t stumble - Harry is already clumsy when he’s sober - and he puts an arm on Louis’ shoulders.

Once they get to the bed, Harry lets himself fall on it, yawning loudly.

“Now, now, you can’t just sleep like that,” Louis reasons.

Harry frowns, his eyes already closed. “But I’m comfy,” he protests grumpily.

Louis tries to hide a smile; Harry is really fucking adorable.

“You can’t sleep wearing that, take your jeans off at least.”

“No,” Harry says, pulling the covers up all the way to his head.

Louis rolls his eyes, “Fine then, I’ll do it myself.”

He gets closer to the bed and throws the covers back; Harry’s pretending to be asleep, staying completely still, but Louis can tell he’s awake because he’s got one eye slightly open, watching Louis.

He unbuckles Harry’s belt and pulls the zipper down, and he starts tugging on them to get them off, trying not to stare at the smooth skin of Harry’s legs.

Suddenly, Harry starts squirming, making it impossible for Louis to get them off all the way.

“It tickles,” he says, laughing.

Louis rolls his eyes but Harry doesn’t stop moving. “Harry! Stay still.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Harry apologizes without even trying to stop.

Louis squeezes his thigh, “My sisters are way younger than you and they don’t make such a fuss when I help them dress.”

Harry stays still at those words. “No, no, I’m a good boy, Louis,” he says hastily.

He looks up and stares at Harry, all pliant, his arms still on either side of his head and his big doe eyes watching him.

He looks completely _filthy_ and at the same time innocent in some kind of way that is making Louis’ heart clench. He seriously needs to leave.

He pulls off the rest of his jeans quickly, and then he starts walking towards the door.

“Wait.”

“What is it?”

“I’m cold.”

Louis reluctantly goes to the bed and makes sure the covers are up to Harry’s neck.

“All done now,” he says turning around once again, but Harry’s hand on his elbow stops him.

“ _Wait_ ,” Harry says pulling Louis’ arm, making him lean a bit over Harry, “I gotta tell you something.” Then he tugs him hard and Louis falls to the bed next to him.

“Harry come on, let me go. It’s late and I should -”

“No,”Harry interrupts him, pulling Louis closer to his body and tucking his face in the crook of Louis’ neck, “You’re warm, let’s cuddle.”

And, alright, Louis knows he should go home and be the ‘responsible one’ here and all that stuff, but there are probably very few people on earth capable of resisting Harry Styles and Louis is not one of them.

Besides, it’s _cold_ and Harry’s body is just so warm next to his that he doesn’t even remember why he wanted to turn him down in the first place.

“Okay,” he gives up, “Let me take my trousers off at least. And I’ll send Zayn a quick text letting him know we’re both sleeping up here.”

“Yay!” Harry cheers quietly with a sleepy smile.

 

Louis wakes up a couple of hours later, feeling warm all over and detecting the smell of apples. He opens his eyes and the events from the previous night come back to him in a rush.

Harry.

His curls are right underneath Louis’ nose and his mouth is on the soft skin of Harry’s forehead. He pulls away slowly to watch him as he sleeps, and feels his cheeks heating up when he realizes the smell came from Harry’s hair

He’ll blame it on the sleepiness.

He gets up and instantly regrets it because Harry’s body next to his definitely felt much better than the chill air that’s giving him goosebumps.

After dressing up, he’s ready to leave when a sudden idea comes into his head.

Louis crouches to the floor to check Harry’s jeans pockets and quickly finds his phone. He calls his own number so Harry’s will be saved in his phone. Then, he puts the phone on the bedside table and leaves Zayn’s house.

 

_hey, i took the freedom of getting your number lol, i hope your head doesnt hurt too much curly, you really did drink a lot last night, ha ! anyways im louis. i told zayn to leave a glass of water and a pill next to the bed before i left. now you know who to thank ;) i hope you had fun last night, cheers._

 

***

 

The front door is being opened and Louis looks up immediately, smiling because he knows he’ll see Harry and…

Uh.

“You’re not Harry.”

“I’m not Harry,” Niall confirms. Then he snorts, “I’d never noticed you care so much about him.”

“I don’t care about him.” Louis says simply. “ _That much_ ,” he adds then.

“Mate.” Niall tells him, amused, “The disappointment on your face when you noticed it was me instead of him totally gave you away.”

Louis rolls his eyes, “Whatever. Why is Harry not here?”

“He’s sick,” Niall tells him.

“Oh, really.”

He pulls out his phone, while Niall assures him it’s just a cold, and that he’ll recover soon. Louis opens his conversations with Harry to send him a new message. He re-reads the last thing Harry had sent him with a smile on his face.

 

**Hiiiiiiiii Louis :) it was nice sleeping with you last night and yeah, the party was fun, even tho I’m a bit sore.**

 

**Uh, I just read that again but it’s not hiding some kind of double meaning, I promise.**

 

Louis thinks for a moment and he sets for a _'Niall told me you’re sick, i could drop by your house when my shift is over if u want ?'_.

 

Louis finds the address Harry sent him without trouble, and he waits patiently after ringing the doorbell.

“You look like shit,” is the first thing he tells Harry when he pulls the door open.

Harry grins, “Thanks man.”

“No, no,” he rushes out as he climbs the stairs following Harry’s lead. “I mean, it’s pretty easy to tell you’re ill.”

“It’s okay,” Harry says once they’re inside of the flat.

“I should warn you though,” Louis says, shrugging off his coat - Harry probably hasn’t noticed how hot it is inside - “I honestly suck at this whole ‘mothering thing’, I mean I can’t make soup or check your temperature, but I can give you my lovely company.”

Harry grins, “‘S fine, it’s not like there’s much to do anyway,” he says with a shrug, “Doctor says I should get some rest, so.”

“So.”

“What can we do?” Harry asks, sitting on the couch.

Louis thinks for a moment. Then, “Up for Titanic?”

“Always,” Harry responds with a silly smile.

“Good,” Louis says, “It’s always nice to stare at young Leonardo DiCaprio for three hours straight.”

“Even though he dies,” Harry adds. “Now that I think about it, you look a bit like him,” he says, giving Louis an obvious once over.

“And you haven’t even seen me wearing suspenders yet,” Louis says with a flirty smile. He just laughs a little when he notices Harry is blushing. “Alright then, do you have it on DVD, or should we try to find it online?”

“Louis Tomlinson, what kind of man do you take me for?” Harry asks with faux seriousness. “Of course I have it on DVD.”

They stay quiet for a while as the movie starts, but a few minutes later, a conversation between them arises. Louis realizes then that he doesn’t really know a lot of things about Harry when he starts telling him things about himself.

Harry tells him he shares his flat with his friend Ed and that he plans to study in a university the following year because he couldn’t decide between law and sociology. He also tells him about how much he misses his mum, because she doesn’t live in London like him or his sister. He doesn’t have any siblings besides Gemma, who he also loves a lot but tries to be subtle about it, because otherwise she’ll make fun of him and call him a ‘softie’.

When he stops talking, Louis tells him a little about his sisters in Doncaster, how much he loves football and how he came to the decision of being a drama teacher instead of an actor.

Then they start exchanging childhood stories.

Harry is telling him about that time he accidentally killed Mr. Whiskers, the class hamster, which he was supposed to take care of at home for a week when he was a seven year old.

“I felt so guilty, I’m serious, and the poor thing had been at my house for two days,” he says with a small laugh, “I made my mum come into the school with me the next day because I was scared the teacher would yell at me or something.”

Louis gives him a soft smile, “And? Was she mad?”

“Not really, my mum told me the teacher said it was something that happened to almost all families and that I shouldn’t feel too bad about it.”

Suddenly, there’s yelling coming from the TV that startles them, making both turn towards the screen. It was one of the few passengers of the Titanic that jumps into the water when it starts sinking, which makes Louis realize that the movie is practically about to end, and that means that he and Harry must have been talking for a long while because he could swear on his life that Jack had won the tickets for the trip ten minutes ago.

“Oops… seems like we’ve been talking for quite long, haven’t we?”

Louis looks at his phone screen and stands up when he sees it’s seven o’clock. “It’s kind of late, I should go.”

“Alright,” Harry says, standing up as well. “See you then.”

Louis nods and without thinking about it too much, he gives Harry a hug. Really, he hugs Zayn and Niall all the time, why should he act different with Harry?

“You’re too warm,” Louis says as he puts his hand over Harry’s forehead, “Hey, I was kidding before like, if there’s anything I can do - ”

“Louis,” Harry says, beaming. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”

 

And _well_.

The thing is, the next day Louis kind of feels like he should go to see Harry again.

He’s just being a good friend, or that’s what he tells himself as an excuse as he sends Harry a quick text letting him know he’ll be at his house in a few minutes.

When Harry pulls the door open, he greets Louis with some flour on his face.

Once he’s inside the flat, he notices everything looks better than the last time he came.

Harry, for his part, looks less pale, and the heater isn’t up to the maximum. This time, the lights are on and there’s some background music as well.

“Sorry, no movie today,” Harry apologizes, leaning against the kitchen cabinet, “As you can see, I’m actually in the middle of something right now and -”

“Oh,” is all Louis says. He’s feeling sort of dumb for assuming that just because Harry is ill, he’d be welcomed every time he feels like showing up. “I shouldn’t have come here, sorry for bothering you, really.”

Harry smiles and looks at him with wide earnest eyes. “Hey,” he says, his voice soft, “it’s okay, I honestly appreciate that you’re here now, do you feel like helping me cook or...?”

“I’ll be honest with you, ” Louis says, this time sounding happier now that he knows Harry actually wants him to be there, “I’m truly not the best cook out there.”

Harry hums, “Not the best, as in?”

“As in, I could burn this kitchen if I tried to fry an egg.”

Harry lets out some kind of “Ha!” that seems to startle him as much as Louis. He covers his own mouth, embarrassed, “Sorry, I’ve never made that noise before.”

“It’s alright," Louis says. "Anywas, I could try to help you.”

Harry hums, “Well, the cake’s in the oven already, but you could help me to cover it with cream?”

“Sure I can,” Louis says confidently. It’s just cream after all, how hard can it possibly be?

“Okay, give me the cream and four strawberries,” he instructs him, pointing at the fridge.

Louis walks towards it and gets the ingredients. Harry washes the strawberries, removes the stems, throws them in the food processor and then he adds the cream before turning it on.

A few minutes pass by, and then there’s pink thick liquid inside of the machine.

“And now we’ll use it to cover the cake?” Louis tries to guess.

“Nope,” Harry says, handing him the mixer. “Now you whisk.”

Louis tries to do what Harry told him to, and starts stirring the cream.

“It may seem unnecessary, but it’ll become a bit more creamy.” Harry explains to him. Louis startles when he feels Harry’s hand grabbing his wrist, “You’re doing it wrong.”

“So like,” Louis looks up at him, “How do you whisk?”

Harry starts moving Louis’ hand the right way as a demonstration.

“Can you open the oven door? I want to check if the cake’s ready.”

Louis doesn’t answer straight away.

“I’d rather not, to be honest.”

Harry chuckles, “Do you not trust yourself enough for that?”

“Well let’s just say that, if this was my house, the only thing we’d be preparing would be the phone to order the food.”

Harry giggles, “You truly can’t cook at all.”

Louis snorts, feigning annoyance. “You’ll see, Styles, one of these days I will cook you a meal that’s going to be so _good_ you’ll keep talking about it for years.”

“Really,” Harry says flatly, as if trying to sound unamused, but his dimples give him away. “What do you have planned?”

“I’d go with something classic… maybe chicken, stuffed with cheese,” Louis says, looking pensive, “But I should add something to make it more special. Do you like mashed potatoes?”

“Only when it’s homemade,” Harry responds honestly.

 

***

 

The following day, Harry’s already at the parlor when Louis gets there, and he looks healthy as ever. Louis sits on one of the loveseats, and for a second is a little bit annoyed about this because now he doesn’t have an excuse to visit Harry whenever he wants.

Then again, it’s good to spend time with him while they work.

In the last few days, he realized he started to enjoy Harry’s company the most. Not that joking around with Zayn or Niall is boring or anything like that, but he kind of got used to being with him. That doesn’t mean he’s bored of Harry now, more like Harry means something familiar to him now and he’s been missing him a lot lately.

Now Louis’ problem is that he can hear Gemma in his head, reminding him of their conversation at Zayn’s party. He feels like being Harry’s friend would mean he’s betraying her trust somehow. The reason must be that, deep down, he knows he doesn’t want to be just Harry’s friend, even if he won’t admit it out loud.

Harry’s voice singing ‘Teenage Dream’ pulls him out of his thoughts.

He turns around and sees Harry cleaning the cash register, wiggling his bum like the dork he is.

“And why are you in such a good mood?”

Harry stops singing and looks up at Louis, grinning. “Can’t tell you now,” he says, now staring at the front door being pulled open. “We have a customer.” He smiles at the girl standing in front of him, “Hi, welcome to Tasty Treats. What can I do for you today?”

The girl is in her mid-twenties. She has a pretty face and is giving Harry a flirty smile, twirling a lock of hair around her fingers.

No one is immune to Harry Styles, Louis knows this.

The girl leans against the counter, like she wants to tell Harry a secret. Louis rolls his eyes and gets out of his seat.

“I want two cones and some advice,” she tells him with a wink. Louis wants to rip his hair off. “I’m trying to impress a boy,” she confesses.

Louis raises his eyebrows, surprised, and notices Harry doesn't look the least bit put out by her words.

“Well. I think maybe you should pick a flavour that he likes and -”

“Chocolate never fails, love,” Louis says, walking towards them to go behind the counter. The girl looks at him, amused. “He was trying to chat you up, by the way.”

Louis is expecting Harry to be annoyed or maybe embarrassed by his comment, but he simply laughs.

After Louis gives the girl her ice cream, Harry approaches him from the other side of the counter and leans his body against it, resting his elbows on top.

“You do know I’m not even into girls, right?” Harry tells him, cocking an eyebrow.

Louis snorts, “Of course I do.” That’s a lie actually, Louis did not know. However, he feels kind of happy about this new information. “Now, will you tell me the reason you were singing Katy Perry before?”

“Uh? _Oh_ , yeah, yes,” Harry says, “I’m just in a good mood.”

“I wasn’t born yesterday, Styles, come on.”

“Okay, right, my friend Ed is going to tour all over America, playing in a few popular pubs, and I will be joining him the first week,” Harry tells him, his smile so big it looks like his face might split in two.

Louis kind of wants to tell him that he shouldn’t go because he might miss him, but that’s ridiculous. He smiles instead and says, “That’s good for you, Harry.”

Harry smiles back and nods shortly, “Thanks Louis.”

“I mean it,” Louis tells him, trying to sound a bit more honest. Yes, he’s going to miss him but that’s no excuse for being a dick. “When will you guys leave?”

“In five days,” Harry responds, “We’re going to fly to Los Angeles first, I’m really nervous ‘cause I’ve never been there, but I’m pretty sure I’m gonna love it.”

“You’ve always loved music, haven’t you? You almost auditioned for X-Factor last year, right? Same year as me?”

Harry nods enthusiastically, “I can’t believe you remember that,” he confesses, and Louis notices he’s trying to fight a smile.

“Watch it, Styles, or I’m going to start caring about you before you can do anything about it.”

“Oh no,” Harry says with faux seriousness. “That can’t be good.”

 

***

 

Louis doesn’t think twice before texting him.

Really. It’s not like he should forget about Harry just because he’s away, and he shouldn’t feel guilty for talking to him either.

 

_just saw a kid that looked exactly like you, curls and all haha !!_

 

**Are you serious? Send me a picture??**

 

_wtf harold thats creepy_

 

**Shut up.**

 

His phone buzzes a second time.

 

**Also. My curls appeared when I was like.. Fourteen.**

 

_pics or it didnt happen._

 

Louis reads what he sent again, and wonders if he’s being too obvious.

When another text arrives, he opens it quickly, and sees the picture Harry sent to him. It’s Harry when he was about two or three, with straight blond hair and he’s wearing a Mickey Mouse t-shirt. The picture is absolutely adorable.

They spend the rest of his shift exchanging old embarrassing pictures of themselves when they were younger.

 

The following day, Louis doesn't have to go to work and instead of spending it doing useful things like practising some kind of sport, or going to a museum, he spends it lazing around at home. Before he knows what happened, it’s four p.m. and he’s still in bed.

He sends a quick text to Harry ( _‘harold IM BORED’_ ), but he’s pretty sure he’ll be too busy to actually reply, so he decides to take a shower.

After drying himself up, he puts on a pair of gray yoga pants and a plain white t-shirt, ready to spend the rest of the afternoon watching Friends re-runs.

That’s when he notices Harry actually answered, and he quickly grabs his phone to read the message.

 

**Um. Hi. Isn’t today your free day?**

 

Louis rolls his eyes. _yes mate, thats why im boreddd_

 

His phone vibrates a few seconds later, as if Harry had been waiting for an answer.

 

**Well, PAL, I don’t have nothing to do right now, we could like… skype?? If you want??**

 

Louis wonders if it’s normal to miss somebody’s company so much when he’s known Harry for such a short amount of time.

It’s sort of odd really, because sometimes, during their shifts together, he and Louis don’t interact a lot, but his presence feels comforting somehow.

Most times, Harry likes to clean the place while Louis sits barefoot on one of the loveseats and reads, wearing his favourite jumper and his glasses and holding a book in one hand and the tea Harry made for him in the other.

Tasty Treats is not a popular ice cream parlor so Harry and Louis end up having a lot of free time during the shifts.

In fact, one time Harry took a long nap while Louis took care of the place.

They are sort of domestic sometimes.

Louis sends him a text letting him know his username, and ten minutes later there’s a Harry Styles behind the screen that looks far too good in his black The Ramones t-shirt.

“Hi,” Louis says.

Harry gives him a small smile, “Hello.”

“How does it feel to be an American rockstar?”

Harry laughs, his eyes narrowing into green slits that make him look particularly adorable. “It’s great actually, in fact, Ed let me go onstage with him for the last song last night.”

Louis really wishes he could’ve been there. “That’s amazing, Haz!” he says honestly.

“Thank you,” he responds politely. “And you? How many celebrities have gone to the parlor in the last few days?”

“Oh, just Emma Watson and Brad Pitt.”

Harry giggles and all of a sudden, stares at Louis seriously. “Louis.”

“Hm?”

“Knock, knock.”

Louis snorts, “Yeah, no, that’s not going to happen.”

“Louis,” Harry insists. “Knock, knock.”

“Who’s there?” Louis asks, reluctantly.

“Lettuce,” Harry replies, wearing a huge grin.

“Lettuce who?”

“Lettuce in and you’ll find out.”

Louis buries his face in his hands to hide the grin that’s threatening to split his face in two.

“Heeeyyy, it wasn’t that bad,” Harry protests.

Louis looks up, “It really was.”

“Well I don’t think -”

“Hey!” A red haired guy breaks in, his face appearing on the screen.

“Hello?” Louis says, amused.

Harry puts his face next to his so Louis can see both of them. “This is Ed.”

“Oh! You’re Harry’s friend, how’s it going mate?”

“And Ed, this is Louis.”

Ed smiles at this and turns a little to give Harry a funny look. “Right, _Louis_.” Harry makes a face as if to tell Ed to shut the hell up, but his friend ignores him. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Louis raises his eyebrows, “Oh, do tell.”

“Well it’s -” Ed is interrupted by Harry’s hand covering his mouth.

He lets out a nervous laugh, “I think it’s best for you to rest your voice for tonight’s gig.”

Ed rolls his eyes and easily moves Harry’s hand out of the way. “Harry told me you have a lot of sisters and that you love footie.”

Louis hums, “Anything else?”

Harry’s hand is now resting on Ed’s shoulder, squeezing it in a way that he probably thinks is threatening but actually makes him looks like a pouty toddler.

“Hmm... just good things, that you’re nice nice and funny and that thanks to you, working turned out not being the worst thing.” Harry is looking at him with a pleased look that quickly changes at Ed’s next words. “And he also said you had the best fucking arse he’s ever -”

In that moment, Harry closes the laptop, ending the call abruptly.

Louis allows himself a smug look before turning the TV on again.

 

***

 

It’s Louis’ turn to have a shift with Liam, which in other words means he can’t fuck around on his phone when there aren’t any customers around.

No, Liam Payne won’t have it.

He can remember the first time Liam asked him to sweep the floor. He had decided to do it quickly because that would meant he could go back to his seat, but what actually happened was that he ended up cleaning the toilets as well after he finished sweeping.

That is why Louis knows now that it’s better to spend the whole time using the broom until it’s time to leave.

After his shift ends, he goes straight to the shopping centre to meet up with Zayn so they can have lunch together, and then help him find the perfect present for his sister’s birthday. Zayn says it’s because ‘Louis has great taste in clothes’ and well, Louis is not going to contradict him.

They are inside of the store Zayn pickedand he’s trying on a pair of sunglasses in front of the mirror when he casually says, “So.”

Louis looks at him, “So?”

“Your thing with Harry,” he says simply as he puts the glasses back into their place.

“My ‘thing’?”

“The fact that you want to suck his dick?”

At this an old lady gives them a disgusted look, and walks away.

“Was that really necessary?”

“Look who’s talking, you used to be the one that insisted on telling me every single detail every time you and Aiden -”

“ _Zayn_ , shut up. God, that was ages ago.”

He rolls his eyes, “Whatever bro, stop avoiding the subject.”

“The fuck? I’m not avoiding anything,” he says with his arms crossed, “Besides, it’s not like there’s anything to avoid in the first place.”

Zayn simply gives him an unimpressed look, holding a red dress in his hand.

“ _Fine_. Okay. Yes, I like him,” he admits, defeated.

“Now that’s a start,” Zayn says with a small smile. He points at the dress, “No?”

“Nah man, too bright,” Louis tells him. “I just… really like him you know? Not just because of his face, _I mean_ , yes, it does add up, but he’s funny and nice and genuine and -”

“Okay,” Zayn interrupts him, “I don’t want a list of the things you like about him, I mean, the way you guys look at each other is enough already. I would rather if you explained the reason there’s nothing going on between the two of you.”

Louis sighs, “There are so many...”

“Give me one,” he demands while inspecting a purple belt with disinterest.

“Well, first of all he’s a child -”

“He’s just two years younger than you,” Zayn says, “What else?”

“Look Zayn,” Louis says, exasperated, “I don’t know know why you’re doing this, but to be honest -”

“Shut up,” Zayn cuts him short. “Come on, give me another reason.”

“Well, there’s Gemma,” he says simply.

Zayn looks at him like he's grown a second head. “Gemma?”

“Gemma… his sister?” Louis tries.

Zayn frowns, confused. “Why is she a reason?”

“Well,” Louis starts, prepared to give him a long rant. He’s surprised when he can’t come up with an answer. “Uh.”

Zayn smiles, smug. “Exactly.”

“What I mean is, I could not do that to her.”

“Do _what_ , may I ask?”

“I can’t date her baby brother Zayn! It’s like breaking the number one rule between friends,” he says matter-of-factly.

“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”

Louis groans, “Alright, how would you feel if I started dating one of your sisters?”

Zayn narrows his eyes at him. “That’s a pretty good point, _but_.”

“But?”

“If you actually were into girls, and I could tell you want to date her ‘cause you care about her and not ‘cause you want to piss me off, then I would be okay with it.”

That actually sounds reasonable. _Still_ , “Yeah, but Gemma has already threatened me about breaking his heart, and I wasn’t really that close to him at the time.”

“And you think that’s because of you specifically?” Zayn asks him, “Louis, she’s going to be like that to everyone that tries to touch a single curl on Harry’s head, it’s in her nature.”

Louis stays silent for a couple of seconds.

They don’t talk again and Louis just waits in his seat while Zayn decides between two skirts. Finally, he turns around and holds one in each arm. Both are knee length, loose, and glittery. He stares at the skirts - one of them black and the other orange - as he tries to come up with more reasons.

“Uh, it would be awkward if we broke up because we’d still see each other at work?”

“Now you’re just making up another excuse,” Zayn says, his tone somewhere between annoyed and amused. “Now. Choose.”

Louis points at the black one without hesitation.

 

Louis is woken up by his phone buzzing on his night stand.

He puts it on speaker. “Uh?”

“Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, Ed just finished playing,” Harry says on the other end, sounding way too happy for… _fuck_ six in the morning.

“Harry, I was asleep,” Louis protests grumpily.

“Asleep?” Harry asks, disbelieving and a bit tipsy, “‘S like… ten.”

Louis rolls his eyes, “Ten for you, six a.m. for me.”

“Oh my god,” Harry says, surprised, “ _Shit_ , sorry, uh time difference and all that.”

“It’s alright,” Louis assures him, sitting up. “I had to wake up early anyway,” he lies.

“Good.”

“So? Why’d you call then, Curly?” he asks, impatient.

“Oh! Right, yeah, I’m horny.”

Louis chokes, “What.”

“No. Wait. I _was_ horny, yeah and like,” he doesn’t say anything else for a few seconds. “I don’t know if you’re like into gay porn, but I found this _amazing_ video -”

“Wait,” Louis interrupts him, smiling in spite of himself, “You called me at ass o'clock in the morning to recommend me porn?”

Harry hums, “You could say so.”

“Well, to be honest I was never really into porn,” Louis explains to him.

“Me neither,” Harry says. Then he starts giggling. “Not since I met _uh_ -” He cuts himself off and clears his throat, “No. I was actually horny ‘cause someone betrayed me.”

Louis should totally end the call, but he simply can’t bring himself to do it. He’s already too fond of this boy and he doesn’t want to miss the opportunity to interact with him while he’s drunk, it would honestly be a waste.

“Who betrayed you?”

“Instagram,” Harry declares solemnly.

“Instagram?”

“Yes,” he responds, “See, I was scrolling down my timeline and I saw this video of a boy taking off his shirt. He was fit and well, I was intrigued to know what happened after -”

“Intrigued, I’m sure.”

“And the caption said ‘double tap to play’ and that’s what I did, and while I was waiting for the video to load, well, let’s just say I have a _great_ imagination.” He says cheekily, “But then I realized it wasn’t even a video but actually a way of getting lots of ‘likes’ so that left me half hard and annoyed,” Harry tells him, “and that’s how I ended up watching porn.”

Louis doesn’t answer. He has his eyes closed and the palm of his hand against his bulge because Louis has a great imagination as well, and his brain is currently filled with images of Harry naked on his own bed with one of his big hands around his dick.

Louis used to have a bit more of self control.

“Uh, Louis?”

“Yeah?” Louis breathes, trying not to show his arousal.

“Um, yeah, so. I thought you should watch it, it’s really good I mean. I like it ‘cause you can tell they’re actually together, you know? They’re not actors, so.”

Louis smiles unintentionally. “That’s kind of romantic, in a strange way,” he teases him.

Harry snorts, “Shut up.” He goes quiet for a moment. “They do it like five times and the video lasts fifteen minutes, it’s amazing.”

Only Harry Styles would describe a porn tape as ‘amazing’. “So you watched the whole thing?”

“Yeah, even made me come twice.”

Louis closes his eyes, but there’s no way of going back now. His dick is fully hard, pressed against the tight material of his boxers. He seriously needs to end the call before it gets worse.

“Okay, you know what? Send me the link and I’ll probably watch it later. Bye, Harold.”

He looks at the screen for a moment, and then his phone vibrates, showing him a new message from Harry. It’s a link along with a short text.

 

**My fave part is liek when the bottm starts cryign haaa, i kinda want someone to make me cry as well**

 

Louis watches it, and has to admit Harry was right. It really is something else, and he can’t help but imagine it’s actually himself and Harry.

He won’t even try to fight it this time, because if he actually wants to go back to sleep, he’s going to have to get rid of his boner somehow.

That is why he allows himself to picture it’s him that can just hold Harry down and fuck into him, alternating between quick shallow thrusts and slow deep ones to drive him crazy. That he’s the one that convinces Harry to go for round two with kisses and telling him what a _good boy_ he’s been.

He pictures Harry as the one crying out underneath him, his body shaking as he whines Louis’ name. That he’s the one that grabs Louis’ hair to stick his face in the crook of his neck, his short nails scratching all over his back.

That Louis is the one that gets to take care of him.

He comes embarrassingly quick and after cleaning himself with a tissue, he falls asleep without having time to feel guilty.

 

***

 

Louis and Harry haven’t talked in three days. Well. Something like that at least.

Harry had sent him a text the following day to apologize, blaming it all on the alcohol and telling Louis he didn’t want him to feel uncomfortable.

Louis had replied to tell him everything was okay.

However, he did not reply to any of the others texts Harry sent him since then. He didn’t answer to the one that had a link to a video of a cat falling into a full bathtub, he didn’t answer to the ones in which Harry told him about things he and Ed had done in America and all the people they met, and he didn’t answer to the one that said  _'I miss you, Lou, I’m really looking forward to seeing you tomorrow .x'_

It was the guilt that wouldn’t let him answer because, even though he knows there’s no way Harry knows what he did after watching the tape Harry sent him, Louis still feels like he took advantage of him somehow.

 

When Louis gets to the parlor the next day, Harry is already there, chatting amicably with Zayn, which makes him feel a bit better; he’s glad Harry looks so happy.

It’s also a good thing that they’re not alone in their shift because otherwise, it would be difficult to spend the whole day avoiding Harry, which is what he’s, in fact, planning to do.

Niall shoots him worried glances pretty often, and tries to find out what happened between him and Harry, but Louis decides to keep quiet. He lets Niall believe that Louis is not talking to him because he thinks he must feel tired from the long flight.

Right after their shift ends, Louis quickly leaves the place, letting Liam and Harry close the place down by themselves.

Without interacting with Harry, the day seemed to go by extremely slowly for Louis and he absolutely hated it.

Besides, now he feels even more guilty than before, because of the hurt looks Harry had given him when he realized Louis was avoiding him, and that makes him wonder if he’s really doing the right thing.

 

***

 

It’s Friday, which means Louis will have to spend six hours alone with Harry, and that is definitely going to make this ‘avoiding him’ thing a bit difficult.

When he gets to the parlor, Niall and Zayn are just about to leave, so he says goodbye and stands behind the counter, waiting for Harry. He pulls out his phone to kill some time and startles when the bell above the door rings, signaling someone is entering.

He doesn’t look up, but it’s useless since Harry’s already walking towards him, and stands in front of Louis, resting his elbows on the counter.

“You aren’t going to say ‘hello’ at least?” he asks, sounding a bit disappointed.

Louis stares at him and sighs. He’s just so pretty, and it’s the first time in a week he's been able to see him this close. He looks as good as ever, the only difference being that his usually pale skin looks more tanned now, and his mouth isn’t pulled into the usual bright smiles he wears around Louis, but is tugged down in a small frown.

“You look good,” is what he says.

Harry blinks. “Why were you avoiding me?”

“I wasn’t.”

“You were. Are.” Louis can’t hold his gaze, so he chooses to stare at his own hand, his fingers playing nervously on his lap. “Louis.”

“What?”

Harry sighs, “Listen, if this is about the porn thing, then you should just tell me,” he tells him, his voice tired, “I guess I thought we were close enough for that kind of thing, but the only thing I did was making you feel uncomfortable, so yeah, I’m sorry.”

Louis stares at him again, suddenly feeling very small, “It’s not that.”

“Then what happened?”

“Nothing to be honest, just me being dumb.”

And, that’s actually kind of true, isn’t it? Louis and Harry are _friends_ , and avoiding him was honestly the dumbest thing Louis has ever done since he met him.

It’s not like it’s the first time Louis has noticed one of his friends is hot, - Zayn, for example.

Louis had considered the possibility of something happening between the two of them and now, their friendship is perfectly fine and simple.

However, Louis thinks, it wasn’t like this with Zayn.

Things are just different with Harry because they had been really close since the beginning, and Louis truly feels like he’s known him his whole life.

They just _get_ each other, sometimes without even using words, and they’re very similar, the friendship is simply something truly inexplicable that just... kind of happened.

“So,” Harry says tentatively, “We’re like, ‘okay’ now?”

Louis smiles. “Yeah, of course, always were.”

“Really?”

Louis nods. “Really, really,” he says, the corners of his eyes crinkling.

“Asshole,” Harry says as he hits him lightly in the shoulder, “I hope you don’t believe quoting Shrek is enough to woo me.”

“That’s what you say now,” Louis jokes, feeling like a weight has been lifted off of his chest now that they are more relaxed around each other. “No, but really, did you have a good time? Tell me everything about LA.”

Harry tells him he loved being in Los Angeles, and that he would like to live there, or maybe get his own place in the future.

He tells him about the night he and Ed almost got into a fight with some drunk guy in one of the pubs he played at, but luckily, the guy was kicked out of the place by the owner.

Harry also was forced to sleep outside their hotel room because Ed was using it to have sex with a girl he had met that night after his gig. Louis thinks that wasn’t very nice of Ed, but Harry assures him he didn’t mind.

They lose track of time and accidentally end up staying at the parlor until half an hour later than when they’re supposed to close the place. Louis doesn’t mind because he’s feeling genuinely happy for the first time in days, and decides that he will stop putting any kind of barrier between him and Harry.

 

***

 

Everything goes back to normal between them, and they’re even closer than before, at least in the physical aspect of it.

It’s like everytime they stand next to each other, Louis can’t help but bury his hands in the younger boy’s curls.

Harry is always touching him as well, somehow; maybe without even realizing it, he’ll be putting a hand on Louis’ shoulder or arm while they talk, to stroke the skin there.

Because of this, their friends have started teasing them and telling them things like “Get a room!” whenever they are around each other, but Louis doesn’t really mind.

“Hello, Sunshine!” he greets him cheerfully as he enters the parlor.

Oh, and pet names. Louis uses those pretty often, especially with Harry, who seems to like hearing them as much as Louis enjoys using them (if his huge smile whenever Louis does is anything to go by).

“Hi, Lou.”

“Today is a very special day, Harold,” Louis informs him seriously.

Harry raises an eyebrow and smirks, “Really.”

“Yes,” Louis responds as Harry goes to join them behind the counter, “Today, I’ll sit here next to Mary, and you will serve the ice cream.”

“Who’s Mary?” he asks him, the corners of his mouth pulling up. Louis points at the cash register. “It’s just a cash register,” Harry points out.

Louis fakes a gasp, “ _Just a -_ ” He puts his arms around it, tugging it against his chest. “Why are you trying to hurt her feelings? It’s okay, Mar,” he says, stroking the device carefully, “rumor has it boys with curls are cursed to be boring forever.”

“Dumbass,” Harry says fondly. Then he shrugs, “But yeah, sure. I’ll serve the ice cream.”

They spend a while by themselves at the parlor, chatting and listening to music from Harry’s playlists on his iPod, until the door is being pulled open by a man with a little girl trailing behind him. She looks like she’s between nine and ten, and Louis assumes she must be the man’s daughter.

“Welcome to Tasty Treats,” Louis says with a friendly smile, “what would you like to order?”

The man gives him a polite nod. “Two scoops of vanilla for me, please, and… Lily?”

“Uh,” the girl hesitates for a few seconds, “can I have one scoop of lemon ice cream, pretty please?”

Louis wrinkles his nose, but he doesn’t comment. “Sure thing, my mate Harry here will give you your ice cream in a ‘mo.”

After the man pays, Harry gives him what he ordered, but then he takes too long before starting the other one. He looks a bit confused, staring at the different flavors with furrowed eyebrows.

Finally, he walks towards Louis and says, “I forgot what she wanted.”

“Mint chocolate chip.”

Harry hums, “I’m pretty sure it was lemon, actually.”

“Yeah, but still, you should give her that anyway,” Louis jokes. “You’d be doing her a favour.”

“So you think I really should?” Harry asks, staring at him with a expression Louis can’t work out.

“Yeah, whatever, but hurry up, we don’t want to make them wait for too long.”

Harry grabs a cone then, but instead of going where the lemon ice cream is, he goes straight for the mint chocolate chip, and fills the plastic tub with it, holding Louis’ gaze.

Harry hands the little girl the ice cream, and Louis watches as her face scrunches up in confusion while she explains that she had actually ordered a different flavor. Harry just nods, apologizing as he goes to look for another cone.

“Why did you do that?” Louis asks him after the man and his daughter left the place.

Harry shrugs, “Because you told me to.”

Louis stares. “That doesn’t make sense, I mean, you knew she wanted lemon.”

Harry sighs. “I just kind of _like_ doing things for people, yeah? Especially for people I care about.”

Louis still doesn’t get it because Harry probably knew he was kidding, but he decides they’ve spoken about this enough already, so he walks closer to Harry and grabs his right cheek to give it a little squeeze, his dimples appearing on his face, and the whole thing is forgotten.

 

However, it happens again a few days later. A group of high school girls are at the parlor, staring at Harry and whispering things to each other. Then one of them - blonde and a bit short - walks towards him to tell him what she and her friends want to order as Harry writes everything down, nodding as she speaks.

Louis walks towards him and leans in to whisper something in his ear that makes Harry laugh while Louis simply smiles, looking pleased. He goes back to his place behind the counter.

“What’s so funny?” the girl asks him with narrowed eyes.

“Nothing,” he responds, nonchalant.

She stares at him, suspicious, but leaves it at that.“Okay, so how much is everything then?”

Harry bites his bottom lip with a conflicted look and gives Louis a quick glance, “I’ve been told to try to rap this answer,” he shrugs, “But I haven’t got a very good flow.”

Louis snorts, and ten minutes later, he’s already given each one of the girls their ice cream, leaving Harry and him alone again.

“You disappointed me there, Harold,” he says as he puts a hand on Harry’s shoulder.

Harry smirks, “I’m sorry.”

“No, you aren’t.” Louis retorts, “Now, let me think about your punishment,” He says, putting the tip of his index finger on his chin, looking thoughtful.

Harry licks his lips. “Punishment?” he asks, looking at Louis with with glassy eyes.

“Punishment.” He repeats, clapping his hands together, “You are going to sweep the floor.”

Harry was already nodding before his finished talking, “Okay, yeah, I’ll just -”

Louis laughs, “I’m just teasing, love.”

“No, no.” Harry shakes his head, “I’ll do it. I always do it anyway, I don’t mind.”

 

And, _well_ then it sort of becomes a game between the two of them. Ordering Harry around is a bit addictive, Louis thinks, because he’s just _so_ eager to do it, and even if it happens because Harry is a people-pleaser, it intensifies when he’s with Louis.

He had felt guilty at first because he was basically embarrassing Harry in front of the customers sometimes, but then he realized that the boy not only didn’t seem to mind, but he actually looked like he was enjoying it.

One day, Louis uses his ‘power’ over Harry for his own benefit.

Some guy in his early twenties comes into the parlor, and Louis can easily tell he’s into Harry, which makes him feel irrationally jealous.

The guy isn’t even trying to be subtle either, and he shows the attraction he feels towards Harry with his body language when he puts his elbows right next to the cash register, leaning his face really close to Harry’s, which makes Louis roll his eyes.

Then it becomes even more obvious, because he stays with Harry after ordering, trying to get him into a conversation that Harry clearly doesn’t want to be part of, but is too nice to actually say it out loud.

Louis clears his throat then, making them both turn to look at him, Harry with a smile, the guy with an annoyed expression.

“Can I serve the ice cream now or?”

The guy snorts, “Whatever, I’ll be back in a minute, Harry.”

And. _Okay_ that’s enough for Louis, really.

As he starts serving the ice cream, he motions towards the water bottle Harry is drinking to tell him that he wants him to throw it over the customer.

Harry is chewing his lip nervously, but walks to him anyway and calls the guy’s name. He stares up at Harry and gets closer to him. When he is once again leaning against the counter, Harry makes a weird move with his arm that makes the bottle fall, making it seem like it’s been an accident, and soaking the guy’s shirt and jeans. He starts to apologize with a hurried, ”I’m so sorry, oh my god I’m so clumsy, don’t be mad, sorry, sorry.”

Louis smiles triumphantly, but it doesn’t last long, because suddenly the guy is taking off his wet shirt.

He stares with an horrified expression at his beautiful body, from his prominent hip bones, to the thick muscles in his arms. Curious to see Harry’s reaction, he turns around to look at him and is a bit surprised when he sees he’s already staring at Louis, without paying any attention to the fit annoying guy.

After a few seconds of silence, Louis realizes Harry is waiting for Louis to tell him he had been good, so he quickly gives him a thumbs up, and Harry shows him a bright smile in return.

 

So, basically, there isn’t anything _wrong_ about what they are doing, but neither of the two are expecting that other people would start to notice.

Liam invited Louis, Harry, Zayn and Niall to his house to hang out for a while, eat some pizza, play video games and maybe watch a film.

The five of them get distracted by a football game between two German teams they don’t know the name of, and they are paying attention to the screen as they eat.

Harry, Louis and Niall are squeezed into the biggest couch while Zayn and Liam are both sitting in chairs next to the coffee table, with all the food and the drinks on it, situated between the television and the couch.

“Shit,” Niall says, sounding distressed.

“What’s wrong Nialler?” Liam asks before giving the slice of pizza that he’s holding another bite.

“We’re out of beer,” he says, pouting. “Can you get me some more?”

Liam simply shakes his head no before taking a long sip of his full glass. “There’s more in the fridge, but there’s no way in hell I’m going to get up.”

Niall groans. “Harry?”

“Nah mate, no way.”

“Now, now, Harold don’t be like that,” Louis says, stroking Harry’s curls as he talks, “Niall here had a bad day. Some kid spilled his ice cream over his favorite shirt.”

Harry sighs, and gives him a soft smile. “Okay. Niall, I’ll be back in a mo’.”

He goes to the kitchen and everyone stays awkwardly quiet.

“Well that was weird,” Liam says.

Louis is about to protest, but he’s interrupted by Zayn.

“You think _that_ was weird? Mate, have you ever seen them while we’re working?” he asks, incredulous, “It’s a thing they always do, one of these days the boss is gonna end up firing Harry because of Louis.”

Louis’ eyes widen. He had never thought someone would notice their ‘game’, but it’s just something he can’t not do when he’s around Harry.

“What are you even talking about?” Niall asks.

“Like,” Zayn starts, pensive, “the other day Louis told Harry to give the customer their change - that was two pounds - using five pence coins only.”

Niall frowns, “Why do you do that, Louis? Thought you and him were friends, you really want the boss to fire him?”

No, no, no, _no_. Why are the boys asking these kind of things, and why is Harry taking so fucking long?

“Of course we’re friends and no, Niall, I do not want him fired,” Louis explains, exasperated. “It’s some kind of 'competition' between me and him, but I’d never let it go that far; it's all fun and games.”

“Until someone loses an eye,” Zayn adds.

Louis rolls his eyes, “Fuck off mate.”

Right then, Harry comes back to the living-room holding a beer bottle in his hand. “ _Guess who’s back, back again_ ,” he sings with a silly smile on his face.

Louis bites his bottom lip to keep himself from smiling. This boy is going to be the death of him.

 

***

 

It’s Friday and it’s raining. Harry and Louis are on their shift together, the two of them sitting on one of the loveseats, talking as they wait for a customer to enter the parlor.

“So like, you won’t go to uni then?”

“Uh, it’s more -” Harry says before biting his bottom lip. Louis tries to play it cool. “Travelling with Ed made me realize I want something different than the rest.”

Louis snorts and shakes his head, “You do talk some shit,” he tells him sounding amused.

“No, I mean it, just.” Harry frowns, trying to find the right words. “I enjoyed it so much, Lou, and it was less than fifty people,” he explains with shiny eyes and passionate voice. “Imagine being able to fill up a whole stadium,” he says as he shakes his head. “It would be incredible, just picture it, thousands of people that came there just because they want to see you.”

Louis shrugs. “Sounds nice,” he says honestly.

“Of course, it may not take me anywhere, _probably_ ,” Harry says with a shrug, “but I won’t be able to know until I try it.”

Louis nods. “It’s not for me, I guess,” he tells him, pensive, “I couldn’t just let go of all the small things, like going to the cinema, or some restaurant, or, I don’t fucking know, maybe just going to Tesco’s? It would mean people following you everywhere and invading your privacy, in my opinion.”

“It’s a valid point,” Harry says. “But I think it’s worth it.”

“You know what,” Louis says as he stands up, “Maybe you won’t get anywhere,” he says, grabbing a paper napkin from the counter, “but in case you do, then.”

He gets close to Harry and hands him the napkin and a pen he pulled out of his pocket.

Harry looks at him quizzically.

Louis smiles, the corners of his eyes crinkling. “Harry Styles, can I have your autograph?”

Harry beams, “I - What do I even write?” he asks, looking up at Louis.

He just shrugs. “Whatever comes to your mind.”

Harry grabs the paper and thinks for a few seconds. Louis watches him as he writes and _wow_ , it’s the first time he thinks someone writing looks adorable. Harry just does that to him.

“Here,” he says once he’s done.

 

_Hi! Harry Styles here,_

_lots of love to my #1 and only fan_

_(and also favourite co-worker)_

_Louis Tomlinson_

 

After Louis finishes reading it, he carefully folds the napkin, and puts it inside his jean pocket. He smiles and then motions Harry to get up from where he’s sitting so he can give him a hug.

“When you're famous, this will be worth millions,” he whispers, his mouth next to Harry’s ear. Harry snorts. “Now a selfie,” he says, putting his phone in front of their faces.

“You’re taking advantage of me, you -”

“Hush!” Louis says. “Now smile.”

The first picture looks like every other picture between friends, with Harry’s arm around Louis' shoulders.

They’re both making a silly face with their tongue out in the second one.

In the third one, Louis sees on his phone screen that Harry is not posing for the camera anymore but is staring intently at Louis now. He takes a final picture, and puts his phone down.

He turns around slowly until his face is right in front of Harry’s, their noses almost touching. Harry licks his lips and _fuck_ Louis kind of wants to bite them, but when he’s thinking about actually doing just that, the door is being pulled open by some new customer.

They both separate quickly, and awkwardly walk to where they’re supposed to be to take their order.

It’s a young couple, and the two of them are wet from head to toe, seeming hurried. After they pay, Louis gives them their ice cream without trying to make small talk, since the guy and his girlfriend look too caught up with each other to pay him any attention.

They leave the parlor in a haste, and Louis wonders if they don’t care about their ice cream getting wet.

“Oh Louis look,” Harry calls him. “They forgot something,” he says, pointing at the base of one of the tables.

Louis frowns and gets closer to it for further exploration. It’s a Victoria’s Secret bag.

“Maybe he bought it and forgot it here on purpose,” Louis says, opening the bag.

“Louis!” Harry reprimands him, “Don’t do that, what if they come back?”

“We have every right to open it,” Louis says, inspecting what’s inside it. “Maybe it’s filled with illegal products.”

Harry sticks his hand in the bag and pulls out a closed package; he opens it. “Or maybe it’s just a pair of panties,” he says, holding the garment and giving Louis a significant look.

He stretches the cloth so both can look at it in detail. It’s pretty nice, Louis figures, it’s pink with a flower pattern and it says ‘Love Pink’ in black letters at the back.

“Alright,” Louis says, “We’ll keep it here in case they come back.”

And they don’t talk about it for the rest of the day.

 _Well_ , until they’re about to close the parlor.

“Wait,” Louis says, going back inside, “We forgot the panties.”

Harry gives him a confused look, but shrugs anyway. Louis finds them easily and gets out again with an idea forming in his mind.

“You should wear them on Monday,” he tells him.

“Uh,” Harry says, doubtful, staring at the bag as if it actually had a bomb inside of it, “Wouldn’t it be uncomfortable?”

“Haven’t you seen that film? Ah... John Tucker something,” Louis says, “The guy starts wearing them and realizes that they are actually comfortable. In fact, then the whole basketball team starts wearing them as well, it’s hilarious.”

Harry simply gives him a nervous smile. “Okay.”

 

***

 

Louis is twenty minutes late to his shift because the ‘small nap’ he had taken after lunch lasted five hours instead of four, like he had planned.

He walks into the parlor and sees Harry by himself behind the counter, worrying his bottom lip with his teeth. The younger boy’s worried expression turns into a happy one when he spots Louis, making him feel proud of himself for getting that reaction out of him.

“Hi,” he greets him, “I thought you weren’t gonna show up.”

“Nah,” Louis says, walking behind the counter to stand next to Harry. “I fell asleep.”

Harry simply nods at that, making Louis feel a bit lost. Usually Harry would have got closer to Louis and they would be having a conversation by now, but today he just goes to the cash machine and stares at Louis, like he’s waiting for him to say something.

He doesn’t have more time to overthink it because there’s a customer entering through the door. It’s a teenager, maybe two or three years younger than them, and he’s wearing a hoodie and some giant headphones. After he places his order, he looks down at his phone as he waits, ignoring the two of them.

Louis goes to serve him the two scoops of strawberry he ordered, but he accidentally drops all the ice cream cones to the ground. Just when he’s about to crouch to put them back in their place, Harry walks to him and ducks down to do it himself. Louis stares at him to thank him, but the words die on his lips when Harry turns around.

His back is facing Louis, and his jeans accidentally lower, showing him some of the skin on his small back and also pink fabric.

Pink fabric. Of the panties Louis had told him to wear.

Shit.

Louis tries to keep it cool when Harry stands up again, and turns to Louis with all the plastic cones gathered in his arms. He simply gives him a short nod, trying to look nonchalant as he gives the the customer his strawberry ice cream, and then the boy leaves without even saying “thank you”.

Now that they’re completely alone again, Louis walks towards Harry - who is resting his elbows on the counter, leaning his front against it - and places a hand on the younger boy’s back, putting his mouth right next to his ear.

“Shame he didn’t see what you’re wearing, right?” he whispers, his lips lightly touching Harry’s lobe. He can feel him shivering slightly. “Bet you wanted him to.”

Harry’s eyes flutter closed. “Louis,” he breathes.

Louis steps back, deciding that _okay_ maybe he did go too far with this joke or whatever the hell that was, but when Harry turns around to face him, he notices the big bulge in his jeans. Louis wants to look away, but he simply can’t.

It’s one thing to resist Harry when he’s not fully certain that he feels the same way as Louis, but it’s a whole different thing to see the effect he has on Harry and do nothing about it. He’s just not that strong.

He settles his arms on either side of Harry’s body, boxing him in against the counter.

“Bet you would’ve liked it even more if he’d known you were wearing them ‘cause I told you to.”

And then, Louis doesn’t - _can’t_ even remember who started it, but they’re suddenly kissing frantically. He has one of his hands buried in Harry’s hair, occasionally pulling on it lightly to make him moan softly into his mouth. Harry has both hands around Louis’ waist, gripping him firmly against his body.

He tugs on Harry’s bottom lip like he wanted to since the day they met; after that, he starts trailing wet kisses from his jaw, down to the crook of his neck.

“Louis,” Harry whispers, scratching Louis’ scalp carefully and tilting his head back to give him better access. “Wanna suck you off.”

Louis moves his lips from Harry’s skin to be able to look up at him. “What?”

“It’s all I’ve been thinking about since I met you,” he says, giving Louis a soft look, like he can’t stop the words coming out from his mouth. “You’re so fit, Lou.”

“Jesus _christ_ , Harry,” he says, feeling his hard dick throb. “Have you ever done it before?”

Harry looks down, his gaze on Louis’ bulge. “No, but I really want to, just -” he looks up at him, “ _please_.”

Louis groans, trying to find a reason to say no. “Fuck,” he curses when he doesn't find any. “Right here?”

Harry simply gives him a quick nod that makes his curls bounce in a way that Louis probably would find funny in another circumstance.

“But we could get -” he interrupts himself, and smirks. “You want it even more, don’t you? Knowing someone could just walk in, and they could see you when they got closer?”

Harry closes his eyes and lets out a small whine, as if Louis’ words were physically paining him. “Louis.”

“Okay, fine, yeah,” he says as he lets go of Harry. “Get on your knees, love.”

Harry obliges and he’s now on the floor with his back to the counter. He hurriedly pulls down Louis’ trousers, his underwear following shortly after.

He watches his dick for a few seconds and then leans in to give the head a tentative lick. Louis groans when Harry wraps his hand around the base and guides his cock into the wet heat of his mouth.

Louis swears and Harry looks up at him, seeking approval; he looks wrecked already, with his flushed cheeks and darkened pupils. Louis strokes his hair slowly, encouraging him.

Harry takes it as a cue to start bobbing his head up and down quickly, making Louis throw his head back, eyes closed, and mouth opened in a silent moan. He accidentally thrusts his hips a little, making Harry pull off, coughing.

“Shit, are you alright?”

Harry nods, licking his lips and focusing his gaze on Louis’ dick again. Harry strokes him with the hand he has wrapped around him and leans in to take him in again, this time moving at a torturously slow pace.

Louis tugs on his curls, making Harry's eyes flutter as he moans around him.

“Is this a thing for you?” Louis asks, fascinated, “The hair thing?” and then he tugs again, with more force behind it now.

Harry pulls off again, groaning, and gives the head kitten licks as he pulls down his jeans and pulls the panties to the side to take his dick in his hand.

Louis stares at him without being able to believe the effect he has on Harry, and thinks it’s a miracle he hasn’t come yet.

He pulls on Harry’s hair again to make him look up at him. When he does, Louis notices he looks a bit teary-eyed and that his hand’s motions stopped, as if he thinks he needs Louis’ permission first.

“You look so pretty like this,” Louis croaks out, hoping his voice doesn’t come out as wrecked as he feels. “Being so good for me.”

Harry whines at his words, and starts moving his hand again, stroking himself more slowly this time.

Then he takes Louis into his mouth, and doesn’t stop until lips are pressed against his own hand at the base of Louis’ cock. Harry starts to move his head again, and it’s messy and sloppy, but he’s just so eager that Louis doesn’t care one bit.

Harry pulls his hand out of his jeans and uses it to play with Louis’ balls. That’s _it_ for him and Louis can’t even warn him before he comes down Harry’s throat.

He pulls off and Louis crouches down quickly, sitting in front of him and leans in to give Harry a messy kiss, tasting himself in his mouth.

Once they pull off, Harry gives him a grin. “If I’d known I was going to get this for wearing a pair of panties, I would have done it a lot sooner.”

Instead of replying, Louis grabs Harry’s dick and starts to stroke him slowly, the underwear’s fabric brushing against his sack, making Harry moan.

Louis rests his head on Harry’s shoulder, feeling him breathing hotly against his neck. He keeps it up and runs his thumb over the slit, making Harry shiver against his body.

“God, I love the noises you make,” he says, speeding up his strokes. “My good boy.”

Harry cries out at that, and sinks his teeth into Louis’ neck as he comes.

A few seconds later, Harry looks at him.

“Hi.”

“Hey,” Louis says, staring back at him, awed. Harry Styles is in front of him, but Louis isn’t sure if he’s actually real.

“That was -”

“ _Yeah_ ,” Louis says, scratching his own neck lightly. “Amazing.”

“Thank you,” Harry says, making his dimples appear.

“So polite,” Louis says as he pinches Harry’s cheek, “but next time we should try to get a place a little more private.”

“Next time?” Harry asks, raising his eyebrows, “Getting ahead of ourselves, aren’t we?”

“Oh, shut up.”

Harry just giggles and pecks his mouth.

 

***

 

It becomes a ‘thing’ then.

Their shifts get much more interesting and they spend the time they have for themselves making out when there aren’t any customers at the parlor. It’s just something they don’t get bored of, and lately Louis has started to notice that Harry is, apparently, into a lot of _things_.

He seemed to enjoy the hair pulling thing, but there’s actaually more.

Sometimes, Harry likes to stay all soft and pliant when Louis’ hands are on him; like he’s willing to take everything Louis gives him.

He really likes the marks, Louis figures. Harry literally gets hard in seconds when he starts sucking bruises into the skin of his neck, but he always tries not to be too loud, only letting out breathy gasps every now and then.

Louis' favourite thing is getting Harry worked up for hours with teasing touches that drive Harry insane.

They decided not to take not take it further than that when they are at the parlor though, because even if the first time it happened was amazing, they would rather not getting fired because some customer walked in on them having sex.

Besides, both prefer the comfort of a bed. More specifically, the bed in Louis’ flat.

Harry has spent the night there a couple of times in the last two weeks - according to him, since Ed was gone, their shared flat makes him feel lonely - and his pink toothbrush now has it’s own place in Louis’ bathroom.

There was a small problem though.

Louis didn’t really think a lot about who should or shouldn’t know about was going on between them, since they couldn’t even give it a proper name. And that’s why it didn’t even cross his mind that Harry may have been thinking about it a lot.

It was Wednesday when it happened; the only day in the week when they share their shift with other people, and when Harry noticed no one was staring at them, he walked towards Louis, and placed his lips next to Louis’ ear.

“Why don’t you ever kiss me when there are other people around?” he had asked him. Louis had stared at him with a confused expression that had made Harry lean in again. “Are you like, _ashamed_ of me or something?”

Louis assured him that that wasn’t the problem, and that he wanted to keep their thing a secret because he didn’t want their co-workers bothering them about it, and that he wanted to enjoy their privacy now that they could.

That was a lie though. The actual reason was that Louis was scared of Gemma’s reaction and he didn’t want her to find out about him and Harry, but he decided not to tell Harry this because it sounded dumb even in his own head, and he figured it would be easier to ignore the whole thing.

 

It’s Friday and Louis is in his flat, currently trailing kisses down Harry’s neck with a steady hand on his hip to hold him close as he listens to the noises that come out of Harry’s mouth.

He’s about to finish a particularly large love bite when he hears Harry’s voice telling him, “Wait.” Louis looks at him and cocks an eyebrow that says ‘I can feel your hard dick against my thigh’.

Harry just stares at him, bemused, and puts his hands on Louis’ shoulders to make him step back a little.

“Harry, what’s wrong?” Louis asks him, confused by his behaviour.

“I just - I don’t understand,” Harry says flatly.

Louis tilts his head to the side. “What?”

“Like, what’s your deal?” he asks him, looking a bit uncomfortable, like this is not a conversation he wants to have. “It’s not that people don’t know you’re into boys, cause I’m pretty sure everyone knows.”

“Harry what -”

“Then I thought, ‘maybe he finds it awkward because we work together’, but I’ve heard Niall talking about you dating some boy, I think it was Aiden, and he used to work at the parlor as well, so I don’t really understand why you want to hide it - _us_ from other people.”

Louis gives him a helpless look, without knowing what to say.

Harry sighs, “Look Louis, I'm not trying to pressure you, but I just want you to give me a reason, okay? That’s all I want, a valid reason, and I will respect it, but if we’re going to hide this, I think I deserve to know the truth.”

Louis bites his bottom lip, thinking that there’s no way he’s going to tell Harry the actual reason. And besides, it would probably piss him off anyway, so why bother?

“Okay, let’s just. Uh.” Louis tries to find the right words for what he’s trying to say. “Maybe we could - Like, gradually? The boys first.”

At that, Harry looks less upset than before. “The boys.”

“You know… Zayn, Liam and Niall.”

Harry smiles hesitantly. “Really? Do you want to?”

“Well,” Louis says as he places both hands on either side of Harry’s waist, pulling him towards him. Harry goes willingly. “No particularly, I mean, they’re going to be a real pain in the ass, I’m telling you but -”

“Lou,” Harry interrupts him, wrapping his arms around Louis’ neck, “thank you.” Then Harry pecks his mouth.

They keep lazily snogging for a while, until Louis gives Harry’s curls a firm tug that makes him moan softly. After that they continue where they left off before Harry interrupted them, and the kiss turns a bit more frantic, their hands roaming with intent this time.

Harry starts leaving small kisses along Louis’ jaw until he gets to his ear and whispers one single word, “Bed.”

Louis, being the little shit he is, responds, “What’s that, love?” his smirk hidden in Harry’s hair.

“Can we just -” he bites Louis’ lobe lightly, “bed. Please, Lou.”

Louis groans, knowing he is practically incapable of saying _no_ to Harry. “Okay.”

They hurriedly walk to Louis’ bedroom, trying to not let go of each other for a second while taking off their clothes as they stumble around the flat.

When they finally get there, both are down to their underwear. Louis quickly gets on the bed, and Harry doesn’t hesitate to straddle his lap, grinning down at him.

“Hey,” he says as he puts his hands on either side of Louis’ head and leans down until their faces are only millimeters away.

Louis places a hand on Harry’s lower back and uses the other to stroke the soft skin on the nape of Harry’s neck. “Hey yourself,” Louis says before pulling Harry’s face down to cut the distance between their lips

Harry parts his lips, and Louis licks into his mouth, his hand on Harry’s back lowering to his arse to give it a little squeeze that makes Harry moan a tiny, “ _Yes_ ,” between kisses.

As if Harry’s tongue movements weren’t enough to drive Louis insane, he also starts moving his hips rhythmically, perhaps without even realizing he’s doing it, his hard dick rubbing against Louis’ thigh through the fabric of his briefs, until he suddenly thrusts against Louis’ crotch, making them both groan at the sensation.

Harry keeps shifting his hips, awed by the way Louis’ body reacts to it; the way his eyes flutter closed when he feels like it’s Too Much, the way Harry notices he’s trying not to make any kind of noise and failing.

After a particularly hard thrust, Louis’ back arches from the bed as he throws his head back. Harry take advantage of this and attaches his mouth to Louis’ neck, sucking a bruise into the skin there.

Louis uses the hand the hand buried in Harry’s hair to try to make him pull off, but Harry groans weakly in protest, licking over the mark he left on Louis’ pulsepoint.

“Haz, come on,” Louis says, lightly scratching over Harry’s back. “Wanna see you.”

At these words Harry quickly sits up with his knees framing Louis’ hips. He places his hands on Louis’ chest and starts to shift his hips again, rubbing his arse all over Louis’ hard cock.

He can only stay still and stare at Harry in amazement, surprised by the fact that Harry looks like he really is getting off without his dick getting any kind of friction.

He truly looks beautiful like this, with his messed up hair and closed eyelids with the long, curved lashes fanned against his flushed cheeks.

Louis uses his hands to grab Harry’s hips and grip them tightly, making him open his eyes to stare at Louis as if he’s waiting for something. When he realizes Louis isn’t going to say anything, he speeds up his movements and his moans get louder now, alternating between words like _fuck_ and _Louis_.

In that position, Louis realizes, it’s pretty easy to picture Harry riding him, and this thought makes him thrust up, meeting Harry’s movements. At that Harry throws his head back and whimpers, so Louis takes it as a cue to continue doing so.

He can see the tip of Harry’s dick peeking out from his boxers, and notices it’s dark red, looking almost painful, which makes Louis surprised by how long Harry is lasting without touching himself.

Louis loves that Harry is so responsive, and can’t help but wonder how he would look if Louis was actually inside him. Without thinking too much about it, he curiously rubs his index finger between Harry’s cheeks through the fabric of his briefs.

” _Oh my god_ ,” Harry says before coming with a strangled cry.

They stay still for a couple of seconds, Harry ignoring the fact that his belly is covered by his own come, and he waits for Louis’ reaction.

“Um.” Louis says, eloquent as ever, “do you like - Use your fingers to _uh_ -”

“Yeah, sometimes,” Harry responds, absently gathering his come on his hand, and wiping it off on the sheets. “Feels good.”

“Yeah?” Louis asks, his mind now filled with images of Harry with his fingers inside of himself, quickly pumping them in and out. “We should - try it, maybe. Sometime.”

“Yeah.”

Both maintain eye contact for a few seconds, until they burst out laughing because _jesus christ_ , they’re ridiculous.

However, Louis’ laughter quickly dies down when he feels Harry’s hand pulling down his briefs and holding his dick, to start stroking it slowly. He lets go of it for a moment to lick his hand, making his strokes smoother, and speeding them up to make Louis let out a hiss of pleasure.

It doesn’t take Louis long to come as well, only this time Harry doesn’t wipe the come off but instead, he leans down and licks Louis clean.

Once he’s done, Harry simply gives him a big smile that makes his dimples look particularly deep. He looks ridiculously adorable, and Louis kind of wants to cuddle him until they both fall asleep. So that’s what he does.

 

***

 

“Batman doesn’t even have superpowers, Liam,” Louis says, shoving a handful of chips in his mouth.

Liam hums as he swallows the piece of hamburger he’s chewing. “He has money, _Lewis_ , which is basically the same thing.”

Louis snorts, “So a random guy with a nice car is more impressive than someone that can climb buildings using spiderwebs.”

“No, bro, I think Liam’s just saying Batman is a bit more realistic than Spiderman,” Zayn says from where he’s sitting between Liam and Niall.

Louis rolls his eyes, “You love Iron Man, Liam, do you find it realistic?”

“It kind of is though,” Liam says before wrapping his lips around the straw and draining his drink. “Who knows what technology will be able to do in the future.”

“Ugh. What do you think, Harold?” Louis says, turning to look Harry, only to find out he was already staring back at Louis.

Harry ducks his head a little, knowing all eyes in the room are on him. “Spiderman’s cool,” he says, shrugging.

He, Louis, Liam and Zayn had decided to go to Niall’s house to spend a ‘lads night’ together. Liam had gone to McDonalds to bring food for the five of them, and they were eating it now as they tried to pick a good movie to watch, which is what led to the discussion of who was the best superhero.

“Harry’s opinion doesn’t count,” Liam says matter-of-factly, “I mean, it’s not fair, he’ll always agree with whatever you say.”

Louis frowns, “Can you please watch your tone, Liam?” he asks as he puts an arm around Harry’s shoulders. “Just because I _am_ Harry’s favourite, it doesn’t mean his opinion should be invalid.”

Harry smiles lazily, “But it’s true, though.”

At the end, they all settle for Iron Man.

After they finish eating, they all stay where they’re sitting, Liam, Zayn and Niall - who is currently putting the DVD on - on the biggest couch. Louis and Harry on the other hand, are sharing a couch that is meant to be for just one person, and Louis is leaning against the backrest with his legs opened so that Harry can fit between them, resting his head on Louis’ shoulder.

When the movie starts, Louis puts his hands over Harry’s belly and slides one of them under Harry's shirt to stroke the soft skin there, making the younger boy sigh softly. He keeps that up for about half an hour, and then he places his chin on Harry’s shoulder.

He turns his head slightly to nose along Harry’s neck, and starts leaving small kisses there. He notices Harry has tensed up, so he decides to stop, but when he removes his hand from the inside of Harry’s shirt, he hastily holds them in place as if telling him to leave them there, and then turns his head around to kiss Louis.

He figures it must be an awkward angle for Harry, but he doesn’t seem to mind because he’s kissing Louis eagerly and sucking his bottom lip into his mouth. After that, they simply forget they aren’t alone.

“Well that’s new,” someone says, startling them.

They pull off and see that the movie is paused and that they have three faces staring at them.

Liam was the one who spoke; he has his eyes wide open, looking surprised. Niall is staring at them with a small smile and Zayn has his arms crossed and is giving them a knowing look.

“New?” Niall asks, hitting Liam lightly in the head, “Wait. Does this mean you both haven’t been shagging for the last two months?”

They blush, but Harry mutters a small, “No”.

Niall hums, and then shrugs, “Whatever, I’m happy for you guys,” he says with genuine smile. “I mean, you two are cute.”

Zayn nods, “You are quite cute,” he confirms.

“ _Thanks,_ ” Louis says.

“So uh,” Liam starts, frowning, “You guys are like a _thing_ now?”

“Kinda,” Harry responds.

Louis tightens his hold around Harry’s middle,“If you have some kind of problem, Liam then you really should -”

“No, no,” Liam says hastily, “It’s just sort of unexpected I guess.”

Niall snorts, “No, you’re just dumb.”

 

***

 

Things are going great for them.

It’s been a couple of days since Harry and Louis told the other boys about their thing, and Harry has been in an excellent mood since then. He looks very happy, wearing a big smile all the time and singing dumb love songs as he dances around the parlor.

It’s quite contagious, really; Louis has also been in a great mood in the last few days, but mostly because of Harry.

So yeah, things are good, and that’s naturally when bad stuff happens.

 

It’s Monday and they’re alone at the parlor. Louis has Harry pinned against the counter, his hands on his waist and a thigh between Harry’s legs, moving it slowly against him. Harry is letting out quiet gasps, and has his arms around Louis’ neck as his fingers stroke his scalp.

Louis is using his mouth to suck at the junction between Harry’s ear and jaw, leaving a bruise there that Harry won’t be able to hide.

He's about three seconds away from suggesting to Harry that they should leave early to finish at his flat, but someone’s voice saying, “Is that your _brother_ ,” makes him freeze.

Harry looks a bit confused, not knowing why Louis stopped.

“Why did you -” but he must notice Louis is looking at something behind him, so he turns around. “Oh, hi Gemma.”

She’s standing still, along with two other girls that are next to her, and she’s alternating between looking at him and Harry with both of her eyebrows raised.

Louis wishes the ground would swallow him up.

He actually was planning to tell her about them, but these are truly the worst circumstances to do so, and he feels like he needs to be by himself for a while.

“I’ll be right back,” he says as he starts walking to the bathroom.

Once he gets there, he splashes some water on his face to clear his thoughts. He walks into one of the stalls, and spends the rest of his shift there, feeling like the biggest dick on earth.

 

***

 

It’s been two weeks, and he still hasn’t apologized or talked to Harry or Gemma at all.

Their shifts alone together are the most awkward thing Louis has experienced since he got a job at Tasty Treats. They only talk to each other when strictly necessary, and then spend the rest of the time they have had without customers using their phones or reading a book, the tension in the air painfully obvious.

The shifts they share with other co-workers aren’t that good either because Harry spends most of it next to Gemma, and every time she catches Louis staring at them, her eyes start shooting daggers at him.

It’s a very unpleasant situation and Louis is genuinely thinking about quitting when he gets home on Friday, ready to sleep for the rest of the day.

His phone starts buzzing the moment his back touches the bed, and he groans in frustration.

“Niall.”

“Hey, Tommo,” he says, cheerful as always.

“What’s up, mate? Are you out of food and you’re planning to come over to steal mine?” he asks as he scratches his belly.

Niall bursts into laughter. “As if. There’s always food in this house, mate, trust me.”

“Alright, alright,” Louis says, sounding a bit happier already. Niall just does that to people, with his simple and easy personality. He’s making Louis feel grateful of being his friend. “I know this subject is rather delicate for you.”

Niall snorts, “You know me.” He pauses, “Louis,” his tone sounding more serious now, “Do you want to go out or something tonight?”

Louis frowns, puzzled. “Not really feeling like it today mate, sorry.”

“What about coming to my house?” he asks. “Come on, Tommo, are you going to turn down free beer and the chance of kicking my ass on FIFA?”

Louis laughs a little, “Of course I won’t,” he says before letting out a loud yawn. “I’ll be there at seven.”

 

Niall is true to his word, and they spend a while eating junk food and drinking beer. Louis _does_ kick Niall’s arse when they play FIFA, and after a while, he starts to feel fully relaxed and comfortable around him, the issue with Harry becoming irrelevant for a short amount of time.

When Louis is about to open his third beer, Niall pauses the game and turns towards Louis, biting his bottom lip.

Louis knew this was coming, but he doesn’t try to get away from it because Niall actually knows him and knows how to make Louis talk without forcing him to.

He really is a great friend.

So, after Niall asks him if he feels like talking, Louis tells him about the whole thing with Harry and Gemma. He listens to him patiently, nodding occasionally with his eyebrows knitted together.

Once he stops talking, Niall gives him a disbelieving look.

“So?”

Louis raises an eyebrow, “So, _what_ , Niall?”

“Is that it?” He pauses, but Louis doesn’t respond. “I mean, that sounds sort of dumb if you ask me, like. You just started avoiding him because his sister caught you both making out?”

Louis simply nods, bemused, “Yes?”

“I don’t understand,” Niall says simply as he shakes his head before taking a sip of the beer he’s holding in his hand. “You told me and the boys about your thing with Harry a couple of weeks ago. I don’t get what the difference is to be honest; or were you planning on telling everyone but her? It’s a bit strange, don’t you think?”

Louis groans, “It’s not like that, see, Gemma told me Harry had a crush on me a few months ago and told me not to hurt him,” he tells him. “And now that she saw us, I thought it was better to end what we started.”

“What for?” Niall asks as he crosses his arms.

“I thought it would start some kind of fight between them and I didn’t want to be the one that caused it. I just want Harry to be happy, always.”

Niall hums, doubtful. “I don’t know mate. I mean, I get what you’re saying, but Harry hasn’t looked very happy lately if you ask me. Are you sure you did the right thing?”

Louis nervously bites his nails. “I honestly don’t know.”

Niall sighs. “Well I think you should talk to Harry first and that way maybe -”

“No,” Louis interrupts him, “I really would rather not talk to him, it would be awkward, and besides, the way he looks at me these days makes me feel guilty enough already.”

“What about Gemma, though,” Niall insists. “You could start with talking to her until things are less tense between you, and then maybe try to fix everything with Harry?” He gives Louis a pat on the back. “Like, even if you guys don’t get back together, you can still be friends, right?”

Louis considers this and then nods as he gives Niall a grateful smile. “Yeah, maybe.”

He holds Louis’ gaze for a moment, and then turns back towards the TV. “Alright, Tommo. Let’s see if this beer will help me beat you this time.”

 

***

 

That weekend, Louis asks his boss if Gemma can replace Harry in one of the shifts they have together, saying that Harry told Louis he was sick and suggesting that he should take the day off. His boss agrees without thinking twice about it; ever since Louis had started working there, he had always shown a certain kind of favoritism towards him.

So, on Monday, Gemma walks through the front door of the parlor, wearing an annoyed expression.

“Hello,” he greets her awkwardly.

She sighs, “Hello Louis.”

He smiles a little, “I actually asked the boss to -”

“Yeah, yeah,” she cuts him off, “You don’t want to talk to my brother, so now you decided that you don’t want to have a shift alone with him, that’s very mature.”

Louis shakes his head no as he furrows his eyebrows. “No that’s not - I actually wanted to talk to you, is that alright?”

Gemma narrows her eyes at him. “Fine,” she says flatly.

“I know I must not be your favourite person right now,” he starts.

“That’s an understatement,” she says under her breath.

“Just listen, yeah?” Louis tells her, “I really like Harry -”

Gemma snorts, “Okay, yeah. Is that why you started avoiding him then?”

“What?” Louis asks, confused.

“What - I. _Louis_ , you and my brother had a thing, and you randomly started ignoring him,” she says simply.

Louis blinks. “Um. Yeah, well, you kind of told me to fuck off before he and me were even friends, so it’s not my fault I was scared of your reaction and -”

“ _What?_ ” she asks, her voice is rising in pitch slightly. “What the fuck are you even talking about?”

“At that party at Zayn’s don’t you remember? You told me he had a crush on me and then threatened me about what would happen if I hurt him,” he explains, a bit confused. Doesn’t she remember that at all?

Recognition shows on her face, followed by disbelief, “Are you serious?”

Louis thinks Gemma might be joking. “Yeah, I mean _you_ sounded pretty serious with all the ‘I’ll punch you in the face if you break his heart’ and when you also -”

“Louis,” she says, hiding her face in her hands, “You were ignoring him, not because you’re a total dick, but because you’re a total _dumbass_ that was afraid of my reaction?”

Louis clears his throat. “Yes?”

“Oh my god, you idiot.”

“Hey,” Louis scolds her, “I won’t let you insult me unless I understand why.”

“Okay, I’ll just, _ugh_. Tell me why you decided to avoid him,” she tells him as she pinches the bridge of her nose.

“Well, when we were at that party you told me to back off, but I just,” he pauses for a second, embarrassed, “I really like Harry, and I realized I had developed a crush on him as well.” She nods, with an expression that Louis can’t work out, and motions him to go on. “But then when you saw us kissing, I assumed you were going to ask me to like, not do it anymore, so I spared you the whole talk.”

“Louis,” she says slowly, “I told you not to break Harry’s heart and you thought the best way of not doing it was to _break up_ with him?”

“I - No, I thought it was going to cause trouble between the two of you and I didn't want to be the reason for -” He is interrupted by Gemma hitting his head lightly, “Ouch! What was that for?”

Gemma groans, “You’re lucky my brother _adores_ you,” she says, frustrated. “Okay, listen to me Louis, I wasn’t planning on interfering between you both because I don’t have any right to, yeah? And honestly, I wouldn’t have done that, I’m not that much of a bitch.”

Louis shrugs. “I thought -”

“No. _Listen_ ,” she says seriously, “Harry tells me about these things, and I know this isn’t the first time you have tried to solve a problem between the two of you by just avoiding it.” Louis bites his bottom lip. “I’m not trying to make you feel guilty, but you really need to stop doing it if you want Harry to forgive you, I mean -”

“ _Wait_ , wait, wait. You think Harry would forgive me?” he asks, dumbfounded. “And you wouldn’t mind?”

“No, Louis, it’s not my business, like I do mean the ‘hurt him and I will hurt you’ thing, but it’s not like I can choose who my brother likes,” she tells him. “But yeah, I’m pretty sure he’ll forgive you because he really likes you and he’s just been so sad lately.”

Louis is still a bit confused, but he suddenly feels like he has too much energy and he can’t keep sitting there for much longer. “I should - Um, would you mind? I need to -”

Gemma gives him a genuine smile. “Yeah, you better go.”

 

When Louis gets to Harry’s flat, his heart is threatening to beat through his chest. He takes a long breath before knocking, and when he hears steps coming to the door he realizes he doesn’t have any idea of what he’s supposed to say or do.

After the door is opened, Louis simply lets himself stare at Harry for a moment, and then hates himself for being such an idiot because, if there’s a person in this world that should not be hurt, it’s Harry Styles.

“I’m an asshole,” is what comes out of his mouth.

And. Okay, he probably shouldn’t have said that.

He watches as Harry’s face scrunches up in confusion, and Louis notices he looks like he had been sleeping until he got there. He looks adorable wearing a pair of gray sweats and a white t-shirt that says ‘tofu guys don’t eat meat’ in black letters.

He lets out a yawn, “What?”

“I’m. Uh, can I come in?” Louis asks, nervous.

Harry shrugs, but steps back anyway, giving him room to walk into his flat. After closing the door, he turns around and looks at Louis, lazily scratching his belly. “You want something to drink?”

"No, I'm good."

"Suit yourself," Harry says, indifferent, as he walks to the big couch that’s in front of the TV. He sits down and pats the free space next to him after, as if telling Louis to sit next to him.

Once he does, Harry rests his socked feet on the couch, knees drawn up to his chest.

"Why did you come here?"

Louis sighs, "Wanted to see you, and talk."

“Oh, so today I exist then?” he asks, his tone sharp compared to the one Louis is used to hearing.

He gives him a sad look. “Harry, I came here to apologize. I know I acted like a dick, but I can’t stand this, and like, now working at the parlor became something I literally hate because I’m not able to talk to you,” he sighs. “I really miss you.”

At this, there’s a hint of a smile forming on Harry’s face. “Well I agree with you, and I feel the same way, I mean, I really missed you as well but,” he stops talking and leans in until their face are very close, and places his hand on Louis’ forearm, making him feel like he’s burning where Harry is touching him because it feels like it’s been _ages_ since something like this happened. “Can you tell me why you were avoiding me? And not just this once, I still want to know what happened when I was in Los Angeles.”

“Yeah, of course.” Louis nods as he puts his hand over the one Harry placed on his arm, to stroke the skin there softly. “You’re going to laugh but, after you sent me that link with the porn thing, I sort of had a wank because I couldn’t stop picturing it was you and me in that video.” Harry ducks his head down and his smile grows into a genuine one, his cheeks flushing slightly. “And I felt guilty because you’re just so young and -”

“Okay stop,” says Harry, frowning now, and making Louis hate himself a little for making Harry upset. “I’m not young, but I’m two years _younger_ than you, yeah? That’s it. ”

Louis smiles and moves his hand to bury it in Harry’s hair. “I can’t help it, you make me feel like,” he pauses, trying to find the right words to say. “I feel like I don’t want anyone to hurt you, which, I know it’s a bit lame, but I guess that’s what makes me see you as younger than what you are.”

“It’s lame, but also cute,” Harry says as he winks. “And why did you start ignoring me after Gemma caught us making out?” he asks, his expression more serious now.

“Um, well, remember that party at Zayn’s house?” Louis asks hesitantly. Harry nods. “Well, Gemma kind of told me she thought you had a crush on me.”

“Jesus christ,” Harry groans, hiding his face behind his hands. “That is so embarrassing.”

“It’s embarrassing but also cute,” Louis mocks him, making Harry look up at him and let out a small laugh. “After that she gave me some sort of ‘talk’ and she told me I should not hurt you under any circumstances, and, basically, I over-analyzed it,” Louis explains to him.

Harry grins, looking more relaxed than when Louis got there, “She is a bit scary, isn’t she?”

“Totes,” Louis says in faux seriousness. “But, to be honest, after we told the boys about our thing, I felt almost ready to tell Gemma about it as well, but then she took me by surprise and I kind of freaked out.”

Harry frowns, “In these last few weeks, I kept thinking I had been the one that pushed you too much.”

“What?” Louis asks, confused.

“Because I didn’t want to hide it,” Harry tells him with his eyes fixed on his own lap. “It was unfair to pressure you like that, I mean, you were clearly uncomfortable with it, I should have been more understanding.”

“No, Harry, it’s just -” he stops talking to let out a disbelieving laugh. “We’re just a pair of idiots, aren’t we?”

Harry smiles, and it’s the kind that Louis missed the most, the one that is so big that it looks like it’s going to split his face in two.

Then, Louis leans in to start trailing kisses all over Harry’s face, the tip of his nose, his closed eyelids, his forehead, the space between his nose and upper lip, keeping it up until Harry is a giggly mess beneath him.

After he stops, he simply leans back to be able to look at Harry.

His neck looks particularly tempting then, and all Louis wants to do is leave a huge mark right there, for everyone else to see.

“Zayn wins the bet,” Harry murmurs, pulling Louis out of his thoughts.

“Huh?”

“He and Niall had some bet about when we were going to fix things,” Harry tells him. “Niall thought it was going to take you one more week.”

Louis chuckles. “Those fuckers,” he says under his breath, his tone fond. “But seriously, Harry,” he waits until Harry and him are making eye contact, “I mean it when I say that I’m going to try to change my way of dealing with stuff, like, I want this to work, for real. And we need to be completely honest with each other.”

Harry just nods, “Yeah, I agree.”

Louis smiles a little. “Even if you want to tell me my feet smell bad, don’t hesitate, alright?”

“Of course,” Harry says, playing along. “Same goes for you, yeah? If I’m snoring very loudly, give me a spank.”

Louis raises his eyebrows, “Don’t you think it’s a bit early to bring up spanking into this conversation?”

“Nah,” Harry says, shrugging carelessly, “Our first kiss happened thanks to me wearing panties because you told me to, we’ve always been quite kinky.”

Louis cackles at that and hides his face in the crook of Harry’s neck to nip at the skin. “You’re a complete menace, Harry Styles.”

 

**Epilogue**

“Harry I don’t like your name,” Louis says.

“You don’t like my name.” Harry repeats, giving him an odd look. “Well, then call me by a different one, I mean you already have lots of nicknames for me like, Harold, sunshine, darling.”

The two of them are in the kitchen at Louis’ flat, preparing a meal for Gemma, Zayn, Niall, Liam and Ed - who came back from his tour in America a week ago. They are waiting for the water to boil because they decided to make pasta, which was the simplest option and also foolproof because everyone likes it.

Louis tilts his head to the side. “Hmm. I was thinking about something a bit different.”

“Whatever,” Harry shrugs, “I mean, I’m probably going to like it anyway, so call me what you want.”

Louis hums. “See, I wouldn’t feel really comfortable calling you that without your permission.”

“Okay?” Harry frowns. “How do you want to call me?”

“Starts with ‘B’,” he tells him, trying to contain a smile.

“Um, buttercup? Babe? Baby?” He wrinkles his nose. “Bro?”

Louis lets out a laugh at that. “No, I’ll give you a clue. Starts with ‘boy’ and ends with ‘friend’.”

“What the - Wait.” He says now blushing a little as realization dawns on his face. “Oh my god.”

“Oh your god.”

Harry chuckles and pulls Louis into a hug, wrapping his arms tightly around his shoulders. “You’re so sappy.”

Louis pulls back to peck his mouth. “We both are. Now answer my question please.”

Harry pretends to think about it for a few seconds, and then he lets out a fake, long suffered sigh. “I guess I have to say yes, what with having Mary staring at you all day.”

Louis furrows his eyebrows, until he remembers that that was the name he had chosen for the cash register in Tasty Treats. “You do know I was making all those dumb jokes to make you laugh, right?”

“Idiot,” he says, tightening his arms around Louis as he hides his face in the crook of his neck. “You didn’t need to do that.”

Louis gives his hair a small tug. “But it worked, didn’t it? I mean, I get to call you my boyfriend now, so.”

Harry laughs a little, his hot breath tickling the skin of Louis’ neck. “You’re going to use that word whenever you can for the rest of the day, aren’t you?”

“Yep, and you’re going to love every second of it.”

“True,” Harry says, nodding solemnly.

They are interrupted by Niall’s voice coming through the door.

_”I hope there’s enough food to feed an army ‘cause I’m starving.”_

They both laugh and Louis gives Harry’s nose a last kiss before walking out of the kitchen with a huge of smile on his face, because - even if it sounds stupid - in that moment, he actually feels like the happiest person on earth.

**Author's Note:**

> hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, thanks for reading ♥♥♥♥♥
> 
> andddddddddd come say hello in [tumblr](http://tomlinfox.tumblr.com/)


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